


Klaus' Apothecary

by Mace_fluff_button



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Body Horror, Canon Non-Binary Character, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kid Fic, M/M, Murder Mystery, Past Rape/Non-con, Rape Recovery, They/Them Pronouns for Klaus Hargreeves, Trans Character, Transphobia, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:54:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 56,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26244487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mace_fluff_button/pseuds/Mace_fluff_button
Summary: Klaus is your average necromancer, running a small business with their brother Ben, taking sobriety one day at a time, and maybe getting away with a little scam or two, but things take a drastic turn when a run in with an old friend leads to their most challenging endeavour Yet, parenting. Klaus and Ben are fish out of water when it comes to six month old Cassie, now under their care. It's a good thing the new delivery boy knows a thing or two about kids.Warning: This story is not nearly as light hearted as it sounds. Shit gets dark.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz
Comments: 27
Kudos: 30





	1. The prologue.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been excited about this fic for a while and really wanted to get it out there, even though I have another wip I probably should be paying more attention to, but it's spooky season and this is obviously the perfect time to post at least the prologue. Tags will be updated as the story progresses. And I will put trigger warnings at the beginning of the required chapters, cause like I said, this story gets dark.

Klaus' Apothecary. 

Prologue. 

May 12th, 2017. 

Muffled screams echo from all around them. They wanted to cover their ears and make it stop, cause it reminded them too much of what it was like before, but they couldn't, their arms were pinned down by the debreise of the building. It was cramped and pitch black except for the sliver of light filtering in from a brake in the wreckage piled over top of them. It's pinhole sized, but it's enough for them to discern the time of day. The sun's still up, so this must have happened recently. Did they do this? Their head pounds, they must have hit it and fairly hard too if the tacky trail of blood running down their temple is anything to go by. They squeeze their eyes shut and try to think. They don't think they did, there was someone else, they remember someone else and….."Ben!" 

They scream at the top of their lungs, pain flares throughout their body as they try to move and climb free from the heavy chunks of stone and wood weighing them down. Must have been an old building, but what were they doing in an old building? Their memories were murky and their head an even fuzzier, throbbing mess. They didn't know what happened, just that it would take a miracle to get out of alive. 

"Ben!" Dust and shoot fill their airways, cutting their frantic calls off in a fit of hacking coughs. Tears blur their vision, their chest aching with the growing panic building in their gut. They don't think they're going to get out of this, of all the ways they imagined their end, they didn't think this would be it. 

"Why couldn't I have had a quick death?" They chuckle weakly, licking over their lips and tasting the dirt and grime mixed in with the little bit of blood that must have dropped down from their head. They looked back up at the stream of light, straining their eyes to try and see what was out there above them, but then the light disappears only to flicker back. Hope bursts in the pit of their stomach. "Hay! Help! Over here!" 

The light flickers out again, then a voice answer's their call. "Klaus!?" 

Klaus surges forward on reflex, body protesting against the restraints of the chunks of stone and wood still trapping them. "Ben! Thank Lucifer, I'm down here!" 

"Klaus! How badly are you hurt? Can you use your telekinesis to get out?" His voice sounds so far away, they wonder how deep in the ground they must be. 

Klaus groans, trying to get a grasp on the biggest object weighing them down at the moment, but it's too slippery and too much of a risk if they can't keep their concentration, "N-no, I'm not sober Ben, I'm sorry." 

"Fuck!" Ben yells from above them. "Okay, I'm going to get you out Klaus, just hang in there." 

It feels like hours have gone by, Klaus wavers in and out of consciousness. They think they might have dozed off for a short while, but they can't tell, time doesn't feel real. It's like they're suspended in some warped form of reality and the tiny gap between the wreckage of this building was just an endless void they were falling into. Weightless, they felt weightless. A smile twitches on their lips, it's a nice feeling. It makes them wonder if this is what being a ghost feels like. 

"Klaus!? Are you still with me!?" Ben's voice pulls them back to the moment. They jolt, the renewed ache in their body relying just how alive they still were. 

"I'm still here, Ben!" They call back, squinting at the downpour of dust that dislodges from a piece of rubble being removed from atop the pile and making that tiny sliver of light just a little bit bigger. 

Hours pass by, the sky's bruised in the blues and purples of twilight and Klaus stares listlessly up at it, pondering the existence of an afterlife that wasn't hell. They feel the last piece of rubble be pulled off from where it had pinned their left arm into the ground. They try to flex those fingers, but hiss and wince at the flare of pain it shoots all the way up to their shoulder. 

"Please tell me you can stand?" Ben pants down at them, leaning back on his hunches as he catches his breath, his figure a shadowy silhouette in the darkness above them. 

Klaus wiggle's their toes, they move. They flex their calves and thighs next, they're sore, but they move. With as much effort as they can muster, they push themselves to stand and climb out of the creator they had been trapped under for who knows how long. They fall to their knees on the first step of even land, flopping face first on the grass next to Ben. 

Closing their eyes and just breathing, they can feel the vibration of the spirits from underneath them, noting how quiet it's gotten. They gave up, they probably don't know they're dead yet, but when they do, it'll be a fucking chior again. Their good hand scrunches up a fistful of grass, a heavy sob tares out of their throat. They're sober now, probably got sober a long time ago and for once it's quiet, but it's the most horrific silence they've ever heard. Whatever happened, took far too few survivors. 

"Klaus." Ben says softly. 

Klaus shakes their head, choking on a scream that threatens to snap the last threads of sanity they were holding onto. "Where's your body, Ben?" 

Ben doesn't answer, Klaus screams this time, "WHERE'S. YOUR. FUCKING. BODY. BEN!?"


	2. Old friends, new faces and the responsibility of an irresponsible necromancer.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terrified of the upcoming full moon, Luther seeks Klaus' help, completely oblivious to the clear scam Klaus is trying to sell him. Things take a turn though, when Ben is brought up in the convention.

October 10th, 2019.

"Klaus, I need something for the full moon tonight." Luther, the gigantic furry lug, said, squeezing into their shop, shoulders Just barely scraping past the door frame. Klaus grimaced at the groan of the floor boards as their brother from another mother, shuffled towards the front counter. 

They plopped down the copy of cover witch they had been leafing through and reached under the counter, pulling out two things. 

"Okaaay, are we wanting sleepy time, chill out herbal remedies, or pure strain wolf's nip laced with horse tranquilizers?" They asked in all seriousness. Luther went wide eyed, but nodded his head yes, eyes downcast and hands folded sheepishly in front of himself. 

"Yes? Yes to what? Herbs or the werewolf weed?" Klaus had a jar of Mr Moonie's Night-Night Tea in one hand and in the other was a large plastic plastic bag filled with green and purple nuggets with a strip of masking tape labeling it 'werewolf weed' in black ink. 

"Anything! I, I just need anything that's going to get me through the full moon without a single claw or tooth out of place." Luther pleaded, sounding just as desperate as he usually did when his time of the month was approaching. 

Klaus thought for a moment, weighing their options of telling Luther the truth, no matter how much he'd hate it, or selling this entire bag of wolf weed in one day. Yeah, Ben was always the moral one out of the two of them and he wasn't here. Setting the tea down, Klaus held the bag up, "Okay, then what you're gonna want to go with, is this ginormous bag of werewolf weed. A couple of these and you'll be as chilled as baby Buddha on the day he found entitlement." 

"Ah, I think you mean enlightenment." Luther corrected, eyeing the bag wearily. He wasn't keen on the idea of smoking a single weed of any kind, but his desperation to fight the pull of the moon was inevitably winning out. 

Klaus waved a dismissive hand, "Yeah whatever, I'm sure he had both, but what I'm saying is, you need this grade-A Wolf's nip. This stuff will make it feel like you were never bitten at all." They were definitely pushing it with the sales pitch, but it certainly caught Luther's attention that much more. 

"Are you sure? Wh-what do other werewolves say? Do they use it too?" Luther was curious and Klaus was selling their weed. 

"Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, all kinds of werewolves love this stuff, why do you think I got such a big bag for? This shit sells like horny cakes." 

"You mean hot cakes." 

"No, I mean horny cakes. They're over here in the display case." They point to the far side of the counter where a three tiered pastry display is filled with small, ceramic wrapped, yellow, square confections.- "one cake will make you so incredibly horny you and your partner, or partners can go at it for four days in a row, no rest, just non stop boning. ",

Luther regards them with a mix of intrigued horror.-"Those could be used for….nefarious reasons." He stage whispers, like Klaus didn't know how dangerous a product like that was. Let alone a product they were selling in the establishment they very much owned. 

"Don't worry about it, they're magic, I got it worked out to where nefarious acts do not happen while my product is in use." Luther didn't look convinced and was most likely gearing up to grill them further on the subject like the stubbornly good guy he was. 

Klaus quickly reached back under the counter and pulled out a large paper bag and stuffed the Wolfs nip into it, "Okay, so the bag of weed is gonna be $450.59 would you like to donate a dollar to needy black eyed children?" They grinned, customer service voice in action as they watched Luther's resolve slowly crumble. 

"Okay, I guess I can give it a try." Klaus nodded vigorously as they watched Luther reach into his coat pocket for his wallet. 

"Hay, uh, where's Ben?" He asks, pulling out his credit card. 

Klaus freezes, heart turning to a stone in their chest. Why'd he have to ask about Ben? Couldn't he tell he wasn't here? Why make them explain when they could just finish this damn sale and purchase of questionably legal items? 

They looked to the side, mouth tight as they fought the quiver in their lip."Ben, he, he's not with us anymore."

Luther went still, the hand holding his card shaking as the color drained from his face."What do you mean?, He's not-"

Kluas sucked in a deep breath, their eyes tearing up the slightest bit,-"He passed away."- their voice wavered wetly, the words raw and bitter in their mouth.

"Quit telling people I'm dead!",The bell rang manically as the door swung open and Ben came marching into the shop, arms filled with two large brown paper bags that covered his face from view.

"Sometimes I swear I can still hear his voice." Klaus singsonged, wiping their fake tears away. 

"Stop you're shit, Klaus." Ben called, walking around Luther seamlessly and dropping the bags behind the counter, landing just inches from Klaus' bare toes. They stepped back, knowing full well Ben was someone who's buttons you did not want to press too many of. Holding their hands up, they levitated up and over the counter, coming down to stand next to Luther who was white as a sheet. 

"Lucifer, I actually thought you were dead. What the hell, Klaus!?" Luther turned to them, his shocked face quickly morphing into anger and Klaus was starting to think they should have stayed behind the counter.

Ben picked up the discarded bag of weed and rolled his eyes. "Luther, you do know this stuff is illegal." 

Luther was back to being shocked and stuffing his credit card back into his wallet, looking like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and trying to hide the evidence. ,"NO! I didn't know, Klaus told me it was for the full moon and that tons of other werewolves use it!" 

Kluas had to suppress a snort at Luther's genuine tone of betrayal, as if they wouldn't try to scam him at least once, if they hadn't done it already.

"Well, they do, it's just not legal. You have to get it from dealers and other such places, which I'm sure is where Klaus had acquired it and now I have to sweep the whole building for anything else they might be hiding." Ben fixed them with a look that sent chills down their spine. They were in trouble and Klaus was too scared to run, let alone confident that they'd be able to get very far if they did. 

Luther ended up buying the herbal teas and promised to never purchase a single thing from Klaus again, unless it was with Ben present. Once the door closed behind him, Klaus made to levitate to the roof, but was quickly wrapped in a tentacle anchoring them back to the ground. 

"Aw, come on Benny boo, you don't actually think I have anything else? I've been sober since last july, you can't think me so weak to- Hay what are you doing with that?!" Ben held the bag out as a second tentacle slithered from his abdomen and grabbed hold of it. Kluas started kicking and squirming then, but they weren't going to get out. 

"No, no, Ben, NO!" The bag was already being pulled into his abdomen to be consumed by his ferocious friend. 

"That was expensive." They whimpered, going limp in their constraints. 

"Show me what else." Ben still hadn't let them go and Klaus knew it was old hat by now, they weren't getting out of here until Ben was one hundred percent satisfied. 

"I only got something small for myself, they're in my coat pocket.", they stood silently, waiting for the tentical to loosen it's hold so they could move to grab the baggie of pills. 

"Which coat?" Ben counters. 

Klaus groans."Damnit Ben, which coat do you think?!" 

"The one that's not a decoy." He shot back. 

"I didn't think that far ahead this time, I swear they're in this coat and if you could just let me go real quick, I'll be more than happy to grab them for you." Ben walked over to them, completely ignoring their request to be freed and started rummaging through their coat pockets. 

"I'm starting to think you have a thing for this. You know, like a kinky thing." -Ben paused in his searching to pin them with an unimpressed glare.- "Just a speculation. Probably wouldn't have even been a thought in my mind if you didn't get so tentacle happy with me as often as you do." 

"Are these it?" He held up a small plastic bag with six individual red and yellow capsules inside it. Klaus could feel their mouth water at the sight of them, they hadn't gotten to take a single one since they bought them, hoping to find a good stretch of time they could ride out the high with zero detection from Ben. 

"Yup, I only had enough money for just six, and if you count them, you will be happy to note that there are still, just six in there." Ben squinted his eyes, counting the pills silently before nodding his head, then lowering them down to the emerging tentacle reaching out for them. 

Klaus physically felt the pain in their wallet as they watched their wasted purchase be fed to the void right in front of them. "Those were ten dollars a pill." 

Ben took a step back and massaged his temples, shaking his head in almost painful exasperation,"You paid sixty dollars for that little baggy and for what? A twenty minute high? I understand this apothecary was your idea, but I helped you invest in it and co-signed the business agreements making it mine as well. We have bills to pay Klaus, you can't keep throwing your money around like this and especially not on drugs." 

Klaus knew they were being a dick head, everything Ben was telling them was one hundred percent true, but it was an honest moment of weakness. They'd been planning on paying their part of the lease this month, but then they bumped into a familiar face on the way. She was an old friend from their time on the streets. She had a kid now, a bright eyed six month old that looked just like her mother. She was trying to get her own place, get her life together for her child, but didn't have the means to get herself out of the shelters yet. Kluas tried to offer her a room at their place, or even all the money they had on them, but she declined, saying accepting their kindness would make her feel just as much of a begger as she already was. She wanted to at least feel like she had earned the money. 

"I'm not selling the hard stuff anymore, I don't want Cassie to see that, even if she doesn't understand it now, she will one day, so I'd rather she recognized the lesser of the many evils lurking these streets." Kluas agreed with her and bought her largest item and the sixty dollars worth of pills.

"Since you're a friend, I can give you the wolfs nip for half off." She offered, but Klaus shook their head, shoving the three hundred and sixty dollars into her hand and quickly grabbing their purchase and concealing them into their coat. 

"Don't worry about it, Josie. I'm doing good right now, if buying something from you for full price is helping you out, then it's no shirt off my back." 

Josie chuckled, squeezing their shoulder,"Glad sobering up hasn't changed you as much as I thought it would." 

"Nah, I think the years spent in a near constant high messed my head up permanently. You know, I still can't look at a checkerboard pattern without getting nauseous, had to retile our entire kitchen cause I kept puking everytimeI saw it." Josie bursted out laughing, her daughter held close to her chest in a hot pink wrap, giggling along with her mother, not understanding the joke, just that her mom was happy. Klaus felt their heart swell in their chest. They hadn't seen Josie since they were last in rehab together, almost four years ago. 

They shouldn't have bought the drugs off of her, they knew they'd feel guilty about it later, but in the moment they didn't regret a single thing. Josie had been through just as much hell as Klaus had, just as much unnecessary hurt and trauma as everyone else they met on the streets and in the rehab centers. She looked better, not her best by a long shot, but better. She deserved to get her life back in order and to live better than she had before, everyone did. Kluas was just happy to have been able to help her get that much closer to that goal. 

"I have to go now, before my brother gets back, but ah, I have my own business now, an apothecary uptown. Feel free to stop by whenever you want. We are looking for some extra hands around the shop. I can hire you, I know Ben wouldn't mind you having Cassie there and I certainly won't." Josie smiled softly, then pulled them into a hug. Kluas wrapped their arms around her, easily returning the affection. They felt their eyes tear up, breathing in deep as they pressed a kiss to her head. 

"I'm so proud of you Klaus, you have no idea. Cassie's my child, but sometimes I feel like you were my first kid. I remember all the times I had to nurse you back to health after a bad trip and the days I'd worry when I didn't see you in the usual spots. Thank you for the money, and thank you for the offer even though it should have been me helping you get back on your feet, I've been out here much longer than you have. I should have been getting my shit together long before Cassie was born." 

Klaus snorted."you're only three years older than me, plus I had a larger support system to force me into sobriety, I should have found you sooner, maybe we could have gotten sober together." 

Josie shook her head, "I probably would have been stubborn, I needed Cassie to give me the reality check I've been dodging for years."- She gave Klaus one last squeeze before letting go. -"now go, get out of here before someone figures out what kind of business I run." 

Klaus laughed, striding out of the alley, then stopping midway and turning back to her "I wasn't kidding about the job, Josie. Come by any time, just say the word and I'll hire you." 

She waved them off, rolling her eyes in mock exasperation. "I'll think about it, now go, you junkie has been." 

Kluas waved their last goodbye and made the walk back to the shop, ruminating on what to do with the items they'd just procured. By the time they got back, Ben had already texted saying he was nearly done with his earends. Klaus had no time to do away with the drugs, they could probably hide the pills for a couple nights, but the weed was going to be a harder endeavour. They were contemplating just throwing it down the garbage disposal when they caught a hulking figure trudging down the sidewalk. Kluas stuffed the bag under the counter, then pulled out their latest issue of cover witch and made themselves as inconspicuous as possible. They could sell the weed and decide what to do with the pills later, it was genius, mostly because Luther wasn't. 

"Where'd you get this stuff anyway Klaus? Who's selling this?" Klaus tensed up, they could tell Ben about Josie and Cassie and hope he'd be compassionate, but a part of them was intensely protective of her and her child. Ben housed a monster in his gut, but he wasn't a monster himself, they knew that, but they were still apprehensive. 

Klaus tapped their foot nervously, not yet meeting Ben's eyes.- "Look, I wasn't planning on taking the pills...when I first got them anyway. My mind changed when I thought I could get away with it, but now that I got caught, I really don't want them anymore, even though they were sixty dollars and I could have easily made my money back if you had just let me sell that bag of wolf's nip, but I can see we clearly have very different business strategies."

Ben released them finally, the tentacle slowly receding back into himself. Klaus fell to the floor landing on their butt, then laid themself down spread eagle in the middle of the hardwood floor. Ben came over to crouch down beside them. 

"Klaus, you've been sober for over a full year now. What's going on?" He didn't even sound angry anymore, not even a tiny bit irritated, he was honestly concerned and that's what hurt more then the shame and guilt combined. They didn't want to disappoint Ben, he'd been their biggest supporter since before they even became a hopeless junkie. He never once left him and Klaus wanted to make him proud, just like Josie had been. Closing their eyes they took a deep breath and let it out. 

"Are you proud of me?" They asked, eyes still shut, not wanting to see a face that might betray whatever answer Ben gave. 

"I know you want me to say yes, but I'm not going to lie to you, Klaus. At this moment, I'm not very proud."

Kluas nodded their head, accepting the reasonable answer, they should have never put it past Ben to be anything less then his brutally honest self. 

"Overall though, I am incredibly proud of you and how far you've come. I know you worked hard to get to where you are, that being said, I also know you're an impulsive idiot, so I'm going to let this one go for now." Klaus peeked an eye open, looking up at Ben's passive expression. 

"Really? I'm off the hook, no punishment?" They asked, sitting up with a hopeful expression.

Ben stood up, his hands on his hips. "I didn't say that, you're no longer permitted to work behind the counter, you'll be sweeping and restocking shelves from now on." 

"Beeeeeeeen, that's not fair." Kluas groaned, definitely regretting buying the stupid drugs now.

Ben shook his head. "It's perfectly fair and if you don't start acting like a grown up about it, I'll be disconnecting the wifi till you do." 

Klaus pushed themself up, grumbling the whole way to the broom and dustpan,"One of these days, I'm gonna show you porn and then you'll be needing the internet just as much as I do." 

"Klaus, I'm asexual." Ben deadpanned.

Kluas shrugged,"I'm sure they got something for you, but you'll never know if you don't try." 

"Get to work Klaus, we got a few interviews scheduled today and I want the shop to be a clean and welcoming environment."

Klaus couldn't stop from rolling their eyes, "You got that out of one of those entrepreneur books, didn't you?" 

Ben nodded, looking proud at being a total nerd. "They've kept this business running so far. You're lucky I'm the smartest out of our siblings." 

"Don't let five hear you say that." Kluas mumbled under their breath. 

The rest of the week went by, Ben interviewed a number of eligible employees, none of which Klaus had any real interest in. They were secretly hoping Josie would show up at some point, if not for the job, then just to say hello. Ben didn't like letting them outside unsupervised, but when they could get out on their own, they would make sure to check around the area they'd last seen her, but never once found her there. 

"Are you waiting for someone?" Ben asked that following Monday. 

"Well, aren't we all waiting for that special somebody Benny bear?" Kluas proclaimed dramatically, leaning their head against the handle of the broom with a dreamy look in their eyes. 

Ben rolled his, holding back a smirk at Klaus' antics, "Sure we are Cinderella.

"I'm more like...rapunzel, kept away in her tower to never see the outside world until my prince charming comes to save me." Klaus replied, hand dramatically thrown over their forehead in classic woe as me posture. 

, "Let's hope he comes soon, get you out of my hair finally." Ben snorted,

Klaus gasps, holding a hand over their heart in outrage. "How dare you! You would miss me and you know it." 

"I gotta do a delivery across town, I should be back in an hour, but we have an applicant coming in today to interview, he's scheduled for 3:30 but if he comes early just send me a text and tell him to wait in my office." Ben bent down to grab his bag, then pulled his car keys off the hook next to the front door.  
,

Klaus gave a salute as Ben walked out the door. "You can trust me Benny boo."

Once they were sure Ben was gone, they dropped the broom to the floor, dusting their hands off as they turned towards the counter, "I think it's break time." 

They pulled out their magazine and layed down on their stomach hovering a few inches over the counter, their feet kicking in the air leisurely. They weren't paying attention to the time when the front door jingled open. Kluas paused in their page flipping and looked up. There, right in front of them and walking closer, was a Greek statue of a man. Their heart skipped a beat then reved into second gear as the man stopped in front of them. 

"Ah, I'm here for the delivery boy job. Is Ben around?" The man scratched the back of his head, looking absolutely lost and confused in the most adorable way.

Klaus was still lain tummy down in mid air, their magazine opened to the lingerie section they'd dog eared earlier. They weren't too sure what to do, but just like the impulsive idiot their brother knew them to be, they shoved their hand out, glossy black nails sparkling under the shop lights and a big grin on their face, "I'm Klaus, co-owner of the shop and you're hired." 

The man furrowed his brow, he was even more confused then before and Klaus loved it. "Ah, Dave and aren't you supposed to interview me before you hire me?" 

"Right, right, right, we can do the interview, I'll take you to my office right now." They lowered themselves down and hopped off the counter, their magazine completely forgotten in their haste to locate the office. It's not like they didn't know where it was, they just haven't been there often and sometimes forgot which door was the right one. Coming into the hallway, Dave following behind them, they stop in front of the two identical doors beside each other and rub their chin in contemplation, singing eeny meeny miny moe in their head. They stop on the left door and open it, peeking their head in then quickly closing it back,"Okay, that's our stockroom." 

They move to the next door."dammit, why does he have to lock his office, no one else lives here but me....wait, does that mean he's hiding something from me?" They pause, remembering Dave was still standing behind them, silently waiting for them to open the door and start the interview. 

Kluas looks over their shoulder, flashing him a reassuring smile,"Ah, this door gets a little jammed sometimes, you really just gotta-" they wiggle the nob harder and harder, adding a tiny bit of telekinesis for that extra push, they jiggle it a little more feeling it's gotten looser, then step back with the entire nob still held in their hand,-"We've been meaning to replace it anyway, now just go ahead and take a seat."- they grin, dropping the nob to the floor and gesturing Dave inside. 

Kluas flops down on Ben's big cushy rolly chair, hands clasped together over the desk as they lean in towards Dave, "Okay, first interview question, how did you hear about us?" 

"Ad in the paper." Dave responds easily.

Klaus nods,"Sounds factual, okay second question, what's your favorite color?" 

Dave quirks an eyebrow, but answers all the same, "Red, I guess." 

Klaus smiles, shifting to a more comfortable position with their chin laid in their palm,"Ooh, red like roses, very passionate. Do you like graveyards?" 

Dave smiles back, growing more amused by the minute in what has to be the strangest job interview he's ever had, "Uh, I think they can be fun in their own way." 

"I think so too"-klaus agrees, sending Dave a quick wink before moving on to the next question,-"what music do you listen to?" 

Dave looks more pleased with this one, happily listing off his favorite genres from off the top of his head, "Classic rock, old school hip hop, a couple indie bands." 

Klaus nods along, gaze none too subtly roving over Dave's face and physique, "Okay, last question, if you could bring any dead celebrity back to life, who would it be?" 

Dave doesn't miss a beat when he says, "Oh, David Bowie for sure." 

"Oh my God, you're perfect. You're hired, I am totally hiring you!" Klaus claps their hands together, rifling through the desk draws for whatever paperwork needed to be done to make it official. 

"Klaus?"

They freeze at the sound of Ben's voice echoing through the building.

"Did the applicant come by?" Ben calls, getting closer, -"Hay is that?" -The door bangs open revealing a rather livid Ben with the broken door nob in his hand. 

Klaus quickly scoots out of his chair,"Ah, there you are Ben, this our new employee, uh..."

"Dave, Dave Katz." The man sputters out, standing up to offer his hand for Ben to shake. 

"Klaus, you can't just hire someone, you don't even know how to do a proper interview." Ben ignores Dave's attempts at formality, instead glaring his sibling down, his shirt shifting as a tentacle threatens to slither out. 

"I think I did alright. What do you think, Dave?" Kluas asks, looking over at him expectantly. 

Dave blinked a moment before catching on, "Ah, it was good, a good interview."

Ben closes his eyes, taking a few deep breaths to collect himself. "Okay, Klaus you go back downstairs and...do something that's not going to make me angry," He points to the door, indicating for them to take their leave, then points at Dave,-"you, sit back down. I'm giving you the actual interview now." -Dave sunk back down into his chair, throwing Klaus a little wave goodbye as they walked past. 

"He's a Bowie fan." They stop to whisper into Ben's ear.

Ben grimaces, -"Noted."-he deadpans, practically shoving Klaus out the door.

Klaus trudges back to the front. They hadn't heard the bell at all, but when they got to the shop area, Josie was there. Stood just in front of the door, her eyes red and teary, her hair and chest soaking wet and in clear distress.

"Josie? What, what happened? Where's Cassie?" They made to go over to her, but she shook her head, holding a hand out to keep them out of touching distance. Kluas' heart lurches in their chest, stomach churning in a familiar anxiety as the tingling in their fingertips told them exactly what was going on. 

"No, No, Nononononono! Josie please! Please tell me you're not. You can't be! You were going to get your life together and raise Cassie. Shit! Where is Cassie?! where's your daughter Josie?!" Klaus felt their knees going weak, they wanted to curl up on the floor and cry, but they couldn't give themself that luxury yet, cause Josie was still sobbing, her head shaking back and forth in denial, but it was only her they saw, which meant Cassie was alive, alone somewhere without a mother to care for her. 

"Josie, you probably don't realize it yet, but you're dead." Josie started to cry harder. Klaus hated these types the most; the ones that weren't yet fully aware. They hated it even more when it was someone they knew. 

"It's true Josie, you're a spirit now and your specter came to me looking for help. I need you to tell me where Cassie is, that's most likely why you're here. You were with her when you died right? She's alone now, you can't take care of her anymore." Klaus slowly inched closer to Josie as they spoke, their hands illuminating a blue aura, trying to feed her surrounding electromagnetic energy so she could better communicate. They gripped her shoulders, the aura coming from their hands illuminating her into a corporal existing, she stills, her eyes whiting out then glowing the same blue aura as the rest of her. 

"Tell me what happened, and where I can find Cassie." They order, their body going frigid and numb as Josie's spirit sucked their energy from them. 

"The women's shelter was full. I didn't have a place to stay. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't thinking. I was too stressed. A man found us sleeping at the park. He offered us a place to sleep. I accepted. I went back with him. He gave us the couch and let us sleep. His girlfriend came home in the morning. She was drunk and thought he was cheating. A fight broke out. She stabbed him. Then she found me getting a bath ready for Cassie. I pleaded with her not to hurt my child. She shoved my head in the water and I drowned. She left after that. Cassie's still at his apartment with our bodies." Her voice was robotic as she talked, like a computer reading a script, but they could still feel the icy tears on their shirt as she cried throughout the whole story. Klaus was much the same, their eyes and nose running as they listened to the last words they would ever hear from Josie. 

"Take me to her, Josie. I'll make sure she's taken care of and Justice is served for your murder." Kluas promised wetly. Josie nodded, then faded out of perception, reappearing on the sidewalk outside the shop. Klaus opened the door and followed her out. They walked for miles, Josie never slowing down in her pace, Klaus not allowing themself to fall even a moment out of step. They eventually came to an apartment complex, walked three flights of stairs and stopped outside a door with blood smeared fingerprints staining the nob. Josie faded out again, Klaus opened the door with their telekinesis, not wanting to tamper with the crime scene more than they already had to, they were only there for Cassie. 

Walking in, they could smell the putrid stench of a decomposing corpse. Kluas covered their nose and mouth as they walked past the bloated body of the man the apartment belonged to. Just like Josie said, he was stabbed to death, the bloody cleaver still protruding from his chest cavity. They forced their eyes away from the scene and walked towards the open door down the hall. 

That's where Klaus found Cassie and Josie and Josie's spirit, knelt down by her daughter, trying to rub soothing touches to the babies back that weren't connecting at all. Josie was no longer a physical entity, she could never hold her daughter again. Her face was in a permanent expression of sorrow as she stared down at her child. Alive, laid on her stomach against the tile floor, her little face red and teary from having cried herself to sleep. Klaus couldn't even imagine what kind of pain they both were in at the moment. 

They stood there silently in the doorway, eyes tearful as they looked between their friend's body, lifelessly hunched over the half filled bath tub and her tormented spirit. She looked up at him with a pleading in her eyes. Klaus knelt down beside her, setting a hand over her shoulder. 

"Thank you, give her a good life." Josie whispered, sounding more like she used to this time. She was smiling but her eyes were still sad, Kluas felt the connection snapping like a teather pulled straight out from their solar plexus as she slowly closed them and finally faded out of their realm for good. She had past on and Klaus could feel all the energy she had taken returning to them. It was so silent and Klaus finally broke down, gut wrenching sobs wracking their body as they mourned their friend, the mother Cassie would never know. The baby stirred at the sound of their hysterics, breaking out into a fit of tears of her own. Klaus scooped her up and cradled her against their chest as they rocked her back and forth. 

Fifteen minutes later and the two of them were all cried out. Klaus slowly got up, Cassie was asleep again and held in their arms as they searched for her diaper bag and other necessities. They found her pink baby wrap in the kitchen and fastened it to themself, setting Cassie inside it. Then they left the apartment with Cassie and her things, walking a block to the nearest pay phone. 

"Diego, I'd like to report a double homicide." Kluas' voice was sore and gravely. -"Look, it's a long story, but I was inside the crime scene, a friend of mine was killed in front of her daughter, she wasn't going to pass on if I didn't fulfill her last request and get her."- they explained, fresh tears rolling down their face at having to relive it so soon. They breathed a steadying breath, shaking their head no even though Diego couldn't see it,- "She's just a baby Diego, not even a year old. Just get a team over here and I can give you all the details I have, but not until you get a case open." 

Kluas rubbed an idle hand over Cassie's head as they listened to Diego gripe down the line, smiling despite themself at their brother's disgruntled agreement to take care of things,"Thank you, yeah, I'll see you soon bro." 

With that done, Klaus walked back to the shop, ready for the earful they were going to get from Ben and the time it was going to take to explain and work this whole situation out. 

Heaving a sigh, Klaus took one look down at Cassie where she sat, still snoozing with a tiny thumb in her mouth, none the wiser to the fucked up turn her life just took. 

"Yeah, I can be a parent."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and constructive criticism welcome.


	3. Ch 2. Little devil's come in cute packages.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Returning back to the their shop, Klaus and Ben have a necessary discussion while making a surprising discovery about their new house guest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter, it's a little late cause I decided to add in a whole new scene on the spur of the moment. I love modern fantasy AU's and I'm really trying to make the world I'm building as immersive as possible. I'm also a sucker for 'everything's normal, but it's all halloween town basically. ' which is totally what I'm doing in this au.

It was past noon by the time they made it back to their shop. The sun was halfway gone as the sky turned from shades of pink to purple. Their eyes burned and the knot in the back of their throat felt like it was never going to go away; they were the most emotionally exhausted they've ever been in a long time. 

The bell jingled as they walked in, Cassie squirmed irattably at the disturbance to her sleep. They glanced up to see Ben standing in the middle of the shop, his hands on his hips and a particularly sour scowl on his face, "Where the hell have you been!?"-he growls out, then his eyes drop to the bright pink bulge over their chest,-"Is that a kid!?" 

Cassie woke fully, her face scrunching up as she released a displeased wail, crying at the top of her lungs at being woken again. 

"Look what you did, Ben, you scared the baby." Klaus admonished, holding her closer to their chest, one hand supporting her bum and the other rubbing her back in little circles. They bounced and mumbled calming phrases into her hair, praying to whatever deity listening that she would settle back down.

Ben looked rightfully remorseful for distressing the baby, but he didn't move to help, just stayed in his spot, silently waiting for an explanation. 

Klaus sighed, "I know this looks pretty crazy and it totally is, but I can and will explain, just let me take care of her first, okay?" 

Ben loosened up, his shoulders dropping and his face softening as he nodded his approval. They walked up the stairs towards the loft area. Klaus deposited Cassie and her diaper bag on their bed. They pulled out a pink blanket with yellow ducks decorating it, Cassie immediately reaching for it and bunching the fabric up in her chubby little fingers before smashing it against her face. They took out a diaper and a bottle of baby powder next. 

"Do you even know how to change a diaper?" Ben asked unhelpfully from the doorway. 

Klaus shrugged a shoulder,- "Eh, can't be that hard, right? I saw mom do it thousands of times with the younger foster kids." -they unbuttoned Cassie's onesie, pulling her legs free from the garment as gently as they could, Cassie kicking and blowing raspberries the entire time. Opening the diaper, Klaus practically fell back at the stench. 

"Nope, I can't do it. Take over for me Ben." Klaus held their elbow over their nose, standing an arm's length away, their other hand resting on top of Cassie to prevent her from rolling off. 

Ben gawked, "oh no, you brought the baby here for whatever reason, you change her." 

, "I know that, but, it's just so, so gross."-Klaus whimpered

"It's a dirty diaper, Klaus. It's not going to hurt you." Ben sounded awfully convicted about that, even as he slowly turned to walk further down the hall. 

"Don't leave me, this is clearly a two person job, we can work together!" They pleaded, but Ben was already out of sight, acting as if he couldn't hear a thing. Klaus looked back to Cassie. She gurgled and blew spit bubbles, none the wiser to the absolute stink bomb her diaper contained. 

"You're so lucky you're cute.",They huffed, saying one last prayer before sucking in a breath and getting to work on changing her. 

They managed to get her bottom cleaned and the diaper far, far away in the trash can next to Ben's room. Her onsie though, didn't fare well in the process, getting dirty during their attempts to clean her as fast as possible. Rummaging through the bag, they found another one to replace it with. They unfastened the rest of the buttons and pulled her arms out from the sleeves, she wiggled and grimaced at the cold air hitting her previously covered appendages. They turned to grab the new onesie, Cassie having rolled herself over onto her stomach while their gaze was averted. Klaus' heart jumping a mile into their throat upon looking back, cause protruding out from between Cassie's tiny baby shoulders, were tiny baby wings. Leathery, black as their nail polish, wings. 

"Ben!" They yelled, gaze never leaving her as they called for their brother. 

"Ben!" 

"Wha-what is it!?" Ben skidded back into the room, his own eyes following Klaus' intense gaze and bugging out of his head in surprise. 

"Are, are those wings?" He asked nervously. Klaus nodded in confirmation, watching with rapt attention as the tiny webbed appendages fluttered and flexed. 

"Okay, so the baby's not human…Klaus where did you find this kid and who the hell are her parents?" 

Klaus shook themself out of their daze and quickly buttoned Cassie up in her clean onesie. They took a couple slow breaths, their chest already tightening up as they dove into the story,-"I knew her mother, she was an old friend of mine from when I was still in the worst of my addiction. She was selling some minor fixes, trying to earn enough to get out of the shelters, long story short, she had nowhere to stay after the shelter got too full and a man offered her a place to sleep. His deranged girlfriend came home and murdered them both, Cassie was left alone in the man's bathroom next to her mother's body, so her spirit sought me out to save her, now we're here." 

They had Cassie back in their arms, bouncing her gently from side to side all the while Ben stared at them with a horrified expression. "That's awful, did you call the police!?" 

They shook their head, "Once I got Cassie out, I rang up Diego on a nearby payphone and told him as much as I told you. He's got a team on the case now, he'll probably be stopping by soon to question me." 

Ben stood there, silent, Klaus wasn't sure what he was thinking. They didn't think he was angry, more so overwhelmed by the seriousness and insanity of the situation. "Do...do you know what race her mother might have been?" 

They tipped their head to the side in thought, "Josie was human from as far as I could tell, even her spirit was the same as I had known her. It must be something from the father's side, I'm sure Diego already has a whole file on the both of them." 

Ben nodded and silence fell between them again, it was quickly broken though, by the sniffle and wail of Cassie in their arms, followed by the tiniest gurgle and groan resonating from her stomach. 

"I think she's hungry." 

Klaus startled, panicking between setting her down to get her bottle and formula or rocking her for however long it took to sooth her crying. "Shit, she probably hasn't eaten since this morning. Ben, do you know how to make a baby bottle?" 

He shook his head, "I'm sure we can find a YouTube video." 

With that, Ben grabbed her diaper bag and Klaus followed him out towards the kitchen, hangry baby crying in their arms the whole way.  
__________________________________

"You guys look like shit." Diego stated, smirking as he took a long swig from his coffee mug. Klaus was leaning against their propped up arm across from him at the kitchen table, trying to stay awake while Cassie sat in their lap, chewing and drooling on the sleeve of their nightgown. Ben was sitting next them, looking just as disheveled and sleep deprived and already filling up his second cup of coffee. 

"Cassie kept us up all night." They groaned, to which Cassie giggled and looked right up at them at the mention of her name. Klaus was tempted to glare down at her, but her cheeks were too chubby and dimpiley to be angry at. They grinned lazily back at her gummy smile and stroked a hand over the peach fuzz on her head. 

"Well, baby's be like that." Diego offered lamely, shrugging with the confidence of a man that definitely had a full eight hours last night. 

Ben rolled his eyes, "We know you've done some digging, I'm too tired for small talk, so just tell us what you've got." 

Deigo sighed, shaking his head in amusement while he bent down to pull a manila folder out from his bag, dropping it down on the table, "Double homicide, victims were Franklin Walsh, a practicing druid and Josie Price a non practicing human as far as our records go."

Klaus took a sip from their own mug, then slid the folder over to themself on autopilot, -"Alrighty, any updates on the suspect?"- they ask, opening the folder to skim over, then remembering Cassie in their lap and quickly closing it up before she could get a glimpse at the gory crime scene photos. 

Diego nodded, "We have fingerprints and some hair samples down at the lab. We questioned some of the neighbors who gave a name and description of Mr Walsh's girlfriend." 

Kluas' rubbed a hand over their eyes, nodding in agreement, "Yeah, that's what Josie said, it was the guy's girlfriend, went ballistic on both of them." 

"Shitty thing to happen, but that's what my job is for, luckily for us, It seems pretty clear cut from here, confirm the DNA samples, track her down and bring her in. We might not be needing your skills at this time. Which brings me to the second piece of this ordeal." He raised his eyebrows and inclined his head down at Cassie, still sat contently in Klaus' lap and soaking their sleeve up with baby slobber. 

"What do you have on her?" They ask, their hand instinctively coming down over the top of her head. They honestly didn't want to think about what might happen to Cassie now, who would take her in, where they might take her and how good of people they were. They certainly didn't trust the foster system. They could confidently tell you the only good thing about growing up in it, was the shit load of pseudo siblings they grew up with and still talked to today. 

Diego grabbed the folder from them and pulled a paper out, sliding it between Kluas and Ben. 

"Cassidy Emmeranne Price. Born December 13th in Saint Vladimir's hospital at 3:33 AM. Her father was unaccounted for during the time of her birth. She's mixed race, telling by the pair of wings on her back, DNA tests were requested to identify the other half of her lineage, but it looked like her insurance had been dropped and the results never came in." 

Kluas' huffed, "I swear, our health care system is shit." 

"Certainly doesn't favor the working man, but you'll be glad to know I was able to pull some strings." Diego retrieved an envelope from his bag. -"I thought you'd like to open it, seeing as you'll be Cassie's guardian from here on out." 

Klaus stopped mid reach for the envelope, "what do you mean I'm her guardian? I just saved her from the crime scene, it was a favor for Josie, her last request so she could pass on." 

Diego set the envelope down and pulled out another paper from the folder. "Thought you knew since you were one of the last people to speak to Ms Price, both physical and spectral." 

He handed them the document, "She did it fairly recently too, just a few days before she died." 

Klaus read over the document, their heart climbing into their throat as they digested each word.- "She made me Cassie's godparent?" -with trembling hands, they set the paper down slowly, their chest tight and their eyes stinging with oncoming tears. 

Diego shrugged,"We searched, but with no ID on her father and what we could find on Ms Price, Cassie basically has no living relatives to claim guardianship." 

Kluas nodded, their tears pouring over freely. Josie was gone, but they had her daughter now, both legally and physically. They understood now what Josie meant when she said to give Cassie a good life. She had trusted them enough to raise her child in her stead. Klaus didn't think they deserved that kind of trust, but they were going to do their damn best to follow through on that promise. 

"You good?" Diego asked, his hand clapping them on the shoulder. 

"Yeah, I am now."- they whipped their eyes and reached for the envelope again.-"Let's see what kind of creature of the night I'll be raising." 

Cassie turned in their lap, her big doe eyes staring up at them. She seemed almost aware of the situation, somehow recognizing Klaus for their new role in her life. 

"50% human, 50%...." Their face paled, they swallowed dryly and quickly folded the paper up and stuffed it back inside the envelope. 

Diego and Ben just sat there, matching outraged expressions morphing on their faces.- "Klaus?!"- The two of them groused in unison. 

"Don't yell at me, I'm her guardian now, if I don't wish to disclose this information with you, then I won't." Kluas huffed.

Ben groaned, "Just tell us, klaus!" 

Diego reached over the table and snatched the envelope out of their hand, 

"Hay!" 

He ignored them and proceeded to open the envelope, "50% human 50%......Klaus, your kid's a mischievous little hell spawn." 

Ben barked out a laugh, "she's an imp!? Oh man, it looks like you'll be raising a miniature you, Klaus." 

Klaus stood up with Cassie in their arms, holding her close to their chest as they frowned down at them, "I was a pleasure to raise and so is Cassie. She's perfect, part imp or not, and no imp slander will be allowed in this household from here on out, now if you will excuse me, my little devil just made a stinky." 

Klaus left up the stairs with Cassie, leaving their brothers to stare on in confusion at one another. "Klaus is actually a parent now." -Ben stated in disbelief.

Diego sighed, wide eyed as it finally sunk in, "they're going to need a lot of help."

Ben nodded, taking a long sip from his mug and setting it down. "Oh shit, we're going to have to help them!" __________________________________

"Klaus, why's the baby on the floor?" Ben asked, exasperated as he watched Cassie, now in yet another new onesie, play with her makeshift toys. -"And why's she playing with pill bottles!?" 

Klaus rolled their eyes,- "We didn't have anything else for her to play with and don't worry I'm watching her, besides they're not even filled with pills, I put beans in them instead." -They responded, their chin resting in their hand as they shook a pill bottle in Cassie's face to her absolute enjoyment. She gave them a big gummy grin as she squealed and clapped, bouncing in place as Klaus shook the bottle even more vigorously. 

Ben rubbed his temples, suppressing a groan,"Okay, well it's still not good for business if customers come in here and see you letting a baby play with those, take her to play upstairs or get her some real toys."

Klaus moved to sit up, their arms crossing over their chest as they pouted, to which Cassie was quick to copy, the two of them turning to glare up at Ben in matching attitudes of disgruntlement. Then the bell over the door jingled, pulling all three of their attention to the familiar and handsome man entering the shop. 

"Uh, you said to come in at 7:00." Dave was halfway through the door, looking hesitant to fully enter. Klaus' eyes lit up while Cassie crawled towards them for protection, Klaus quickly pulling her into their lap.

"Dave, scratch training this morning and take these two to the store and make sure they buy some child appropriate toys." Ben pulled his keys from his pocket and tossed them to the new delivery boy, now turned chaperone. 

Dave caught them easily, his mind still processing things as he looked down at Klaus and the baby in their lap, "I..... wasn't aware you were a father."- he commented simply. 

"I'm not....I'm a godparent." Klaus answered, staring openly back at him from their cross legged spot on the floor. 

Dave blinked blankly, a slow smile spreading on his face at the little wave Cassie gave him,"Neat." 

_________________________

"So, what do little baby girls like to play with? Should I get her a doll? Maybe a scarebie?" Klaus asked, holding up a pale woman shaped piece of plastic that had the box advertising her as 'decomposeable'. -"See, look, this one says if you put her in the ground she rots like a real corpse! And she even has a little brush and accessories for her hair!"- Klaus gushed, looking at the item in their hands with wonder. -"Actually, you know what, I kinda want this too." 

Dave shook his head, smiling despite himself at the toy in kalus' hand,-"A scarebie has too many small parts she could choke on, if you wanted to get her a doll, I'd recommend a Pumkin-patch doll instead." - He said, the two of them passing through the store aisles with Cassie tucked under Dave's chin like it was second nature for him and Klaus honestly didn't think the guy could get any cuter.

"Yeah, that is a better idea, you're pretty good at this." Klaus told him, finally relaxing at the growing inclination that Dave probably definitely knew what he was doing. 

Dave shrugged a shoulder, his cheeks tinting the tiniest bit pink, "Thanks, I'm the second oldest of seven kids, so I'm fairly well practiced with children and babies." 

Klaus stopped in the middle of the aisle, a big grin on their face,-"No shit, I'm the fourth of seven!"- they exclaim, overjoyed at yet another thing they had in common with Dave.

"What are the chances?" Dave chuckles, before coming to a stop in front of a row of shelves, "Oh, uh, here are some options for Cassie's age range." 

They stood in front of the displays, one filled with plush toys, ranging from bats to various types of cats. Next to those were colorful rattles shaped like wands that lit up when shaken and other items perfect for entertaining a spooky little baby. Cassie turns around in Dave's arms, staring up at the contents of the shelves before zeroing in on a small stuffed cat on the first row. 

"This? Do you like this?" Dave asks, grabbing the cat and holding it up to her. The tag on the miniature stuffed animal titling it baby's first familiar. Cassie took the toy and immediately shoved a black velvety ear in her mouth. 

"Well, guess we're buying it no matter what." Klaus sighed, already way too fond to say no to her. -"Okay, I know what's in her diaper bag won't last forever and I'm sure even that doesn't have everything, what else will she need Mr baby whisperer?" 

Dave tips his head in thought, "You can never have too many diapers, same goes for food, she should be eating more than just formula at this age, so some jars of baby food, maybe a few more toys, man it's been a while since I took care of a kid this young." 

Klaus had their eyebrows raised up to their hairline, mouth in a permanent smile as they listened to Dave go on and on about all things baby, cause he was clearly a baby pro. Dave must have caught on to their silence, stopping midway through his top diaper brand recommendations.- "Wh-what?" -he asked, face definitely flushed this time. 

"Nothing, you're just really cute right now." They said, not a tinge of shame in them, no, they felt pride at the way Dave's face went even redder. 

"Oh, I uh, um, thanks." He stuttered back.

Klaus grinned, eyes crinkling in the corners as they quickly turned to skip down to the other aisle.  
"Okay, let's get all the baby stuff, whatever Cassie needs, just throw it in the cart." 

"Klaus, we don't have a cart." Dave called out, still standing in the middle of the aisle with Cassie in his arms, who continued to gnaw away at her new stuffed cat. 

Klaus stopped in their tracks, -"I shall get a cart then, stay here I'll be back."- they announced, turning on their heel and heading back towards the front of the store, scarebie doll still clutched in their hand. 

Dave could only quirk an eyebrow up at the strange person, who was technically his new employer now. Then he looked to Cassie, taking in her big grey eyes, chubby cheeks and little button nose. -"You were certainly not part of the job description, little one."- he said softly, garnering a look from Cassie, who seemed curious at his words, but having no idea what he was actually saying. That's definitely something he liked about babies, you could always tell them your secrets. 

The sound of shopping cart wheels squealing against the linoleum floor pulled his attention. He turns around just in time to see Klaus riding the cart like a scooter before they skidded to a stop and park it just inches away from him.

"Can babies drink soda?" They ask, panting and smiling from the exertion of their little joy ride, a six pack of rootbeer and a set of two baby bottles in the basket of the cart.

Dave blanches, "dear Lucifer, do not feed the baby soda."

Later in the check out line, Dave could feel the odd stares the three of them were attracting, as Klaus held Cassie on their hip, standing impossibly close to him, all the while defending and swearing by the benefits of sugar. He also could feel an odd warmness in his chest that he hasn't felt in a very long time, it was fuzzy and nostalgic and he was hoping it never went away. 

Coming up to the register, the cashier took one look at Cassie and melted. "Oh, what cutie pie, is that your cat little miss, can I scan it real quick for you?" 

Cassie quietly held her cat out to the elderly women, watching intently as she quickly scanned it and handed the item back. 

She chuckled at Cassie's protectiveness over her toy, moving on to the rest of the items in their cart. -"Oh goodness, she reminds me of my daughter at that age, didn't trust a soul with her things, and she's still the same, that girl." 

Dave and Klaus grinned, instantly charmed by the youthful twinkle in the women's eyes.

"Not a bad trait to have, my little mausezähnchen will be a ruthless protector, just like me." Klaus said, bouncing Cassie on their hip and tickling her sides to make her laugh. 

Dave couldn't help the dopey smile spreading across his lips, the warm fuzzy feeling in his chest exploding ten fold at the domestic scene.-"I wouldn't send her off to the skeleton war so quick there, Klaus." -he commented easily, not realizing he was poking fun at his boss and their kid. 

Klaus only scoffed in answer though, shaking their head with a screwed up face. "What? No way, Cassie's gonna be a badass warrior, but I'll never send her to a war, cause she's gonna end them. Like a...peace warrior. A peace warrior, princess, huh Cassie?" 

Cassie squealed, laughing at the onslaught of raspberries Klaus was now blowing into her chubby cheeks. 

looking back, Dave saw just as the cashier's eyes rolled into the back of her head, her face ghostly pale as the veins around her eyes strained and protruded a deep purple.-"Oh, she's going to end a great deal of evil in her lifetime, a dark force looms over her now, but I see her path diverging into an uphill road, many hurdles she will travers, but not without numerous breaks of sunlight in the overhanging clouds. At the end lies a lush field of glory."- she said, her voice a dark, croaky echo. Dave practically crawled out of his skin, an icy shiver violently zig-zagging down his spine. He whipped his head around to see Klaus with a irritably pinched face. 

"Damnit Agnus, can I shop at this store for one day without you looking into my or my baby's future!" 

Agnus looked only slightly admonished, the old woman rolling her now thankfully back to normal eyes at Klaus' dramatics. "You know I can't control it Klaus, just be happy I won't have to charge you for this one, it's on the house." 

"It better be, cause now I gotta worry about some random looming fucking darkness, way to start my morning, Agnus!" Klaus crowed, swiping their card before quickly grabbing a bag and stomping out of the store, leaving Dave at the register in utter confusion. He watched Klaus' retreating figure before looking back to Agnus, who had a surprisingly amused expression on her face. 

"I wouldn't worry too much dear, my predictions are only fifty-fifty and I can already tell with parents like you, that girl will be just fine, lush field of glory, remember? Someone's gotta sow those seeds." Agnus shot him a wink, handing him their recite before calling up the next customer in line. Dave silently stuffed it in his pocket, picking up the rest of their bags and following Klaus' path back to the car, the warm fuzzy feeling not just an explosion, but a whole supernova at having been called one of Cassie's parents. If it was another prediction or a simple misunderstanding, he couldn't tell, but he knew which one he liked best. 

Popping the trunk open, he set the rest of the bags inside before closing it and moving to slide back into the driver's seat. Noticing Cassie buckled up in her new car seat in the back and Klaus sat with their arms crossed in the passenger side. -"wow, you got that installed fast." -he commented, shooting Klaus an encouraging smile. 

Klaus side eyed him dubiously, before rolling their eyes as a smile of their own broke out on their face.- "Of course I did, I'm a baby pro now. Isn't that right Cassie?"-klaus coos, turning around in their seat to talk to her. -"I'm the best damn godparent you'll ever have." 

Cassie giggled and shook her stuffed cat by the neck in her excitement, the poor thing already soaked through with her slobber. 

"Geeze, it's more like baby's first victim instead of her first familiar." Dave chuckled, eyeing the cheap toy. He doubted it would last a year. 

Klaus burst out laughing, face flushing red and sounding like wind chimes to Dave's ears. The feeling in his chest was back and he honestly didn't know what came after a supernova, but this was definitely it and in the back of his mind, he knew he could die happy now. 

A comfortable silence fell between them after Klaus finally wound down.-"You know, I wouldn't take any of Agnus' predictions to heart, she's only ever been right once in a blue, blue moon."-they spoke softly, the necromancer staring down at the palms of their hands with an earnestness in their eyes. 

Dave felt the breath rush out of him, cause Klaus really was such a pretty person, it almost hurt to look at them. His hands tightened on the steering wheel for a moment, his mind racing before he finally got a grip and shoved those thoughts out.- "Yeah, I doubt it was an accurate prediction, she even thought the two of us were Cassie's parents." 

Klaus snorted, "figure's, what'd her face look like when you corrected her?" 

Dave paused for a moment, then continued to stay silent, cause he realized he hadn't corrected her at all. 

Klaus' mouth dropped open, "oh shit, she totally thinks I'm in a committed relationship with you now! Dave, you're ruining my whole image, I'm barely even committed to sobriety right now!" 

Dave's face was definitely hot as he finally shoved the keys into the ignition and started the car to make the short drive back to the shop. Not risking a single word as Klaus continued to cackle and laugh the whole way, all previous thoughts of looming darknesses completely forgotten for the time being.  
__________________________________

"Klaus, stop staring, you're being a creep." Ben growled, elbowing them hard in the ribs. 

Klaus shrugged him off, rubbing their side and ripping their gaze away to glare at him, "I was not staring."

"Oh yeah? And what would you call the last fifteen minutes I watched you oogeling our new delivery boy?" Ben countered, arms crossing over his chest. 

Klaus scoffed, "I call it monitoring, supervising, making sure he's doing his job correctly, I am the boss you know?" 

"Bullshit, you were oogeling and I won't allow it." Ben counters, moving to block Klaus' view of Dave loading up his deliveries to the back of his moped. It was his first delivery and Klaus couldn't help but 'supervise' his process, besides, Dave knew they were watching, he'd fumbled two bags already when Klaus had winked at him the first time through the window. 

"Won't allow what? I have no idea what you're talking about, Benjamin." Klaus rolled their eyes, levitating above Ben's head and resuming their earlier task of watching the delivery boy's ass. 

"No dating the delivery boy, Klaus and that's final." He grouses, his tone brooking no arguments. 

"Who said anything about dating? I might only like him for his body." Klaus said breezily, quirking an eyebrow up at him. 

Ben lowered his eyes downward, as if asking Lucifer himself to give him strength. "That's even worse."-he sighed, his face pensive before he spoke up again.-"I don't mean to bring up old wounds, but you remember what happened last time, Klaus. Plus, You have a kid now, You can't be getting distracted by the first person to catch your attention and risk them being just like-." 

Klaus immediately went rigid, eyes widening in a mix of fear and surprise- "Okay, okay I get it!"-they yelled, cutting Ben off before he could even think to say that name. They lowered themself completely, feet hitting the ground as they sobered up, cause once again, Ben was right. Cassie changed everything now, she needed them twenty four seven. They had to be responsible in a whole new way since getting sober. Klaus couldn't afford to get involved with someone at this time, even if Dave was sort of the whole package as far as Klaus' opinion on packages went and they've seen quite a few packages in their life time. -"he is really good with her though. He's like a baby guru or something." 

"Klaus." Ben warned, 

"Yeah, yeah, I promise I won't fuck the delivery boy. Happy?" They huffed, shooting one last glance at Dave, the man finally saddling his scooter and driving off. 

"For now." Ben chirped smugly, turning to leave only to be stopped by the weak call of his name. He turned around, eyebrows raised in concern. 

Klaus swallows heavily, their hands nervously toying with the hem of their shirt. -"You know I would never let that happen again?" -they ask, voice raw with emotion. Ben jolts, suddenly hit with the downturn Klaus' demeanor had suddenly taken. He knew he shouldn't have brought it up, it was stupid that he even did. 

"Especially now that I have Cassie, I would never, never let something like that happen again." Klaus barreled on, eyes damp as they implored Ben to believe them. 

He grit his teeth. He didn't doubt Klaus for a second and that just made it all the more difficult, cause Klaus shouldn't have to worry about that kind of thing, not when it wasn't their fault to begin with. Ben didn't blame klaus, no, he fully blamed himself for what happened and would probably continue to blame himself for the rest of his life. He shook his head, striding over to his sibling and pulling them into a tight hug, their height difference causing Klaus to have to hunch down to return it,-"No, Klaus, I'll make sure it never happens again." - he swore vehemently, his jaw ticking with just how dedicated he was to that promise. He'd keep both Cassie and Klaus' safe, whatever the cost and if that meant being a little stricter and keeping a close eye on this delivery boy, then so be it. 

_________________________________

"Dave, there you are! Just the big strong man I've been looking for." Klaus exclaimed, popping their head out from behind a corner and scaring the shit out of said man. 

"I, uh, what do you need?" He asked, heart still hammering in his chest. It wasn't often someone got the jump on him, but he supposed that was something he should come to expect from his new and awfully eccentric employer. He was done with his deliveries for the day and any new ones had yet to come in, so whatever Klaus needed, Dave had the time to lend a hand. 

Klaus beams,-"Cassie just took a shit and I can't seem to get her clean without ruining her clothes and I can only wash so many onesies before she runs out of stuff to wear, so I was hoping you might know how to change and clean her a little more efficiently." -they ramble, stepping out from the corner and wringing their hands together nervously. 

Dave raised his eyebrows in surprise, then dropped them and nodded his head in answer, cause diaper duty wasn't that hard once you got the hang of it.- "Am I getting paid extra for the baby lessons?"-he teased, hoping he wasn't overstepping any boundaries just yet, luckily Klaus wasn't put off and grinned right back at him. 

"Can't say that we are, but if I do actually learn something today, then I just might think about giving you a raise." They shot back with just as much sass and Dave's face was starting to hurt from how wide he was smiling. At least one of his bosses had a sense of humour. No offense to Ben, but he was definitely the sterner of the two.

________________

"Oh my Lucifer, it's worse than last time!" Klaus whined, holding Cassie an arms width away from themself as they rushed her naked little bottom to the bathtub. -"Dave, don't try to save that onesie, it's done for! Come in here and help me run her a bath!"- they bellowed, trying not to scowl at the way Cassie was giggling at their panic. -"Quiet, you little poo demon." 

"Beelzebub, how much shit can one baby make?" Dave asked faintly, never having dealt with such a mess in his life. 

"Turn the bathtub on, I think she's starting to drip." Klaus bounced from foot to foot, Cassie still laughing her head off like the little devil she was. 

Dave nodded wide eyed and bent down to turn the faucet on. -"Maybe it's a demon baby thing?"- he said, eyeing the leathery appendages on her back. 

Klaus passed Cassie over to him, checking the water temp before plugging it up and giving the okay for Dave to put her in. -"I honestly don't know, and she's not a demon baby, she's half imp." 

Cassie scooted around and splashed at the shallow water, squealing in delight at the noise she could make with it while Klaus and Dave kept a close eye on her the whole time.

"I dunno, that's still pretty demonic." Dave shrugged, not really looking to argue on the matter, more so saying it just to say it, or really to keep the conversation going with klaus.

Klaus smiled and rolled their eyes, reaching over for the washcloth and soap, wetting it and lathering it up. "It doesn't matter what she is, she's perfect." 

"Never said she wasn't." Dave stated simply, flashing Klaus a smug smirk and getting a hand of soapy water flicked at his face in retaliation. 

"Real mature Klaus."

"Never said I was." Klaus grinned, shooting Dave a wink before going back to their task of scrubbing Cassie clean. Dave huffed, whipping his face dry with the sleeve of his shirt and wondering to himself how he even got here. Sat in this tiny bathroom, helping one of his bosses clean their kid. It really hadn't been part of the job description, but he supposed it wasn't all that bad. He'd had much worse jobs in the past. 

"If you take a picture it'll last longer." Klaus commented cooly, eyes not moving from where they watched Cassie splash around in the tub for a little bit longer. 

Dave flushed, not realising he had been staring. "Oh, I uh, I'm sorry I was just... thinking." 

"What were you thinking about?" Klaus asks, pulling the stopper, Cassie still smacking her hands in the water and not yet noticing it was disappearing. 

"Just that... you're a weird guy." He blurted out before he could even think over what would have been a more appropriate response. He was going to get himself fired on his second day on the job. 

Klaus didn't look angry though, no they snorted through their nose as they turned around to grab a towel from under the sink, coming back down to wrap Cassie up in it. "First of all, I'm not a guy and before you correct yourself I'm not a girl either, I'm just me. Secondly, is being weird a bad thing? Cause if you're going to be working here, you're going to see a whole lot of it." 

Dave blinked, his brain working overtime to process all that as quickly as possible,- "n-no, not at all, I like weird. And sorry for the...missgendering?"- he said slowly, hoping that was the correct term, he took a gender studies class back in junior college, but that was years ago. 

Klaus had Cassie all bundled up and stood with her on their hip, smirking down at Dave "you're forgiven, now come on, it's almost lunch time and Cassie gets hangry."

Dave sighs, a smile on his face as he stands to follow Klaus out, but then he stops. Taking a moment, he looks around himself, getting a good survey on klaus' room and making a mental map on what and where everything was. The room itself was fairly small, the ceiling slanted at an obtuse angle since the entire upstairs was basically a giant renovated attic. The bed was a queen, with rumpled black sheets and ouija board themed comforter and pillow cases. Beside it was Cassie's crib. The door in the farthest corner of the room, he assumed was the closet. Klaus had a single dresser pressed against the opposite wall, a stick of incense burning in its wooden holder on top of it and next to that was an old leather bound book. His brows creased upon noticing it, cause it wasn't common practice to just keep something like that out in the open, even if it was technically in the safety of Klaus' room. Then again, it just might be spelled in some way, cause it was the very last thing he noticed in klaus' room. 

"Dave, you coming?" Klaus called, popping their head through the door frame. 

Dave jumped, his heart pounding out of his chest, -"uh, yeah, yeah I am. Sorry."- he chuckled, shooting the book one last quick glance before finally following Klaus out to the kitchen. At least now he knew where it was.  
__________________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Klaus calls Cassie mausezähnchen, which is a german term of endearment for a child which basically translates to, little mouse tooth, and it's honestly the cutest thing and describes Cassie perfectly.  
> Also, if you haven't noticed, christianity is not a prevalent or even existing religion in this world, and that will get further explored and explained in later chapters, but basically anytime someone says lucifer or beelzebub, it's about the same as saying Jesus Christ or oh my God. 
> 
> Thanks for reading my ramble, comments and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.


	4. Ch 3, baby's first fang.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a desperate midnight call from Klaus has Dave racing back to the shop, can he help the Hargreeves finally get some sleep, or is Cassie doomed to cry well into the morning?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ch 3, let's goooo. It's a shorter chapter, but is it filler? Yeah, yeah a little bit, but that just means ch 4 will not be lacking. I'm getting better at editing my own stuff, but I still wanna say sorry for any errors I might have missed. 
> 
> Also, to answer some questions iv gotten. 
> 
> Q- how does the siblings races work in this au? 
> 
> A- in this au everyone is basically a supernatural or mythical creature or capable of some sort of magic(basically all humans in this au are capable of some level of magic, but that gets further explained later on) all seven siblings are supernatural and will be slowly revealed in later chapters. 
> 
> Q-were the siblings adopted together still and is reginald in the story?
> 
> A- in ch 2, Kluas alludes to being raised by grace in a foster home, that's where he met his siblings and then some, but that will be further explored in later chapters. 
> 
> A 2. I didn't originally plan for reginald in this au, but I can actually see him fitting in somewhere down the line, so that's a strong maybe.

"Good morning Cassie, wakey wakey baby." Klaus cooed softly, reaching down into the crib to pull Cassie up into their arms. She gurgles and huffs, pressing her face against their chest. 

Klaus smirks, She was turning out to be even less of a morning person than they were. - "Tell me about it kiddo, if I could have been born a vampire and just sleep all day and party it up in the evenings?"- They chuckled, then paused-,"Well I suppose that was most of my twenties actually."

"I'm surprised you even remember your twenties." Ben comments dryly, passing by on his way into the kitchen.

Klaus rolls their eyes, following after him and going to strap Cassie into her highchair. "I remember enough and that's all that matters,"- they stand with a flourish, their black satin nightgown swishing as they move to the iPod and speaker in the corner, -"Now, it's time for Mozart and mashed peas, so you're judgmental vibes are no longer aloud in this space, I banish you!"

Ben sighs in exasperation, shaking his head as he replaces the coffee grounds in the machine.-"can I at least finish making my first cup of coffee?"- He asks, not able to hold back his smile at the way Cassie begins to clap her hands as soon as the music starts. Allison wasn't around much when she had Clair, so this felt like the first time he was actually an uncle. He was honestly looking forward to watching Cassie grow up and to actually being a part of her growing up, but he'd never tell Klaus that. 

"Very well, but no negative energy, capiche?" Klaus relents, pulling out the jar of baby food and a spoon, Cassie already shaking her head in denial at the prospect of eating the green mush.  
__________________________________

"Hay, Klaus?"

Klaus' head snaps up from their magazine just as Dave comes to stand in front of the counter, a sheepish look on his face and what looked like something hidden behind his back.

"Hay Dave, what can I do for you?" They purr, happy that Ben was too busy giving Cassie a bath to see them flirt just a little. They were naturally flirtatious after all, it was in their nature.

"I, uh, I got you, or uh Cassie a couple things." Dave stuttered, revealing a pale pink paper bag and setting it down on the counter in front of them. Klaus perks up, never one to turn down a gift and immediately peeks inside. They suck in a surprised breath, looking back up at Dave with the biggest eyes, their lip practically wobbling with how touched they were. 

"Holy shit, Dave you shouldn't have." They breathed out, unable to contain the ginormous grin splitting across their face. 

Dave shrugged, shifting from foot to foot, "it's no big deal, really. Wish I could have gotten you something newer, but they're just hand-me-downs my sisters grew out of years ago." 

Klaus shook their head, suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to smack a big wet kiss to the man's lips, they pushed it down though and turned to call Ben over. "Beeeeeeeeen! Dave got Cassie clothes, we need to have a fashion show!" 

Moments later, Ben came into view, a wet Cassie wrapped up in a towel and perched on his hip."I just got done bathing her, and I recommend you wash those before putting her in them." 

Cassie was damp, her toothless mouth chattering in the cold,- "oh no, mausezähnchen! Ben she's freezing, give her here." -klaus pouts, making grabby hands for her. Ben rolls his eyes but hands her over non the less, his gaze catching Dave's eyes lingering a little too long on Klaus, bundling Cassie up like a tiny Eskimo in her towle. Dave flushes at being caught, smiling nervously back at Ben before clearing his throat.

"They're clean...the close, I washed them beforehand, but feel free to rewash them if that makes you feel better, I don't mind, I just wanted you guys to have them." He explains, fidgeting awkwardly.

Klaus turns around, Cassie already dozing off in her swaddle, tucked away in the cradle of their arms and shakes their head. "No, no, don't worry, we trust you."- they say, looking down at Cassie, then back up at Dave, biting their lip in thought, -"hay, um, I know it's your day off and all, but would you like to come up for some tea?" 

Dave blinks, surprise written all over his face, Klaus feels their nerves rising just as much as they feel Ben's death glare burning into the back of their head.- "Just as a thank you, you know, this is the second time you've helped me and Cassie out and all, I just feel like I should-" 

"No no, I'd love to!" Dave cuts in abruptly, then catching himself and rephrasing on a more calmer note,-"yeah, I'd like to have some tea with you." 

Klaus grins, "great, follow me, I'll just get Cassie dressed and put her down for a nap, then I can put a pot on, I got these little finger cookies at the market the other day." -they chatter on, an excited Dave and a disgruntled Ben following them up to the loft. 

__________________________________

"You can't date klaus." Ben states bluntly, sat beside Dave at the table, his arms crossed over his chest. 

Dave stays silent a minute, knowing what he said next could be the deciding factor on whether he kept this job or not. He couldn't afford to get fired, especially not this early on.- "What makes you think I'm trying to date them?" 

Ben's eyes narrow before he nods his head in silent approval. -"I guess nothing yet, but I'm just covering all the bases here, kalus is…" -he trails off, motioning his hand in place of the word he was looking for. 

"Magnetic?" Dave offered a little too quickly, but it was maybe the best way to describe it, the effect Klaus had on people. He's never quite met someone like Klaus before and he wouldn't lie and say he wasn't at least intrigued by them, but he couldn't risk losing this job over a bit of piqued interest. Besides, it wasn't like he was purposely putting the moves on Klaus, he just wanted to help, he was a naturally helpful person, it was in his nature. 

"Sure, we'll go with that." Ben agreed dryly,-"look, I'm not looking to fire you at whatever chance I can, I'd much rather keep you longer then our last delivery boy, I'm just warning you. Klaus is easily distracted at times, but they can't afford to be distracted now that they have Cassie, you understand right?"-Ben asks darkly, leaning a little bit further into his space.

Dave nodded, holding back the cringe at the feather light graze of a slimy tentacle against his ankle. "Y-yes sir."

"Good." 

"What's good?" Klaus asks, walking into the kitchen after having put Cassie down for her nap. 

"We were just talking about how good business is, now that we have a new delivery boy." Ben replies easily, leaning back in his chair. Dave nods his confirmation, hoping he'd gotten some color back in his face by now. 

Klaus raises an eyebrow up at that, but shrugs it off a moment later, going to the stove to put the kettle on. "So, I found a pair of pajamas in the bag you gave me, and they fit Cassie perfectly, she looks so cute with the little hood pulled up and the tiny ears." 

Dave smiles, feeling a flicker of pride in his chest at seeing how happy Klaus was with his gift. He quickly stamps it out though, cause he had more than just Ben's warning detering him from diving too far into that. 

"I honestly can't thank you enough, especially since we lost that last onesie yesterday when we were changing her." Klaus says over their shoulder, their stomach filling with butterflies when they turn around to see the big smile on Dave's stupidly handsome face. 

"It really wasn't any trouble at all, my Ma was wanting to get rid of those old clothes anyway, I'm just glad Cassie has more to wear now." Dave says, the corners of his smile faltering the slightest bit at the momentary flash of guilt bubbling up in his stomach.  
__________________________________

"Dave!" Klaus yells down the line, Dave flinches back, he can hear a cacophony of Klaus' panicked rambling and Cassie harrowing wails of distress.

"Klaus, What's wrong!?, Why's Cassie so upset?!" He asks, sitting up straighter in bed. Taking a quick glance down at his phone, he saw that it was just nearly midnight. A part of him was tempted to hang up, cause again, this was definitely not in his job description, but a bigger part of him, sadly, was much more worried about Klaus and the baby.

"I don't know!" Comes Klaus' high pitched reply, they sounded on the verge of tears themself.- "She wont stop crying, I did everything! I fed her, burped her, changed her, fed her again, but she didn't want to eat, and she won't go to sleep either, she just keeps crying! Dave, I don't know what to do!" 

Dave's heart hurt at the desperation in klaus' voice; he knew being a single parent couldn't be easy. He was lucky enough only having been the second oldest out of so many kids, he hadn't been completely on his own and had the guide of his more experienced mother and older sister, but both Klaus and Ben were complete newbies. 

"I know this is asking for a lot, but I'm really stressed and scared and me and Ben have no idea what's happening to her, can you please come over and take a look at her." Klaus practically begged. Dave felt his heart stutter in his chest. Aside from the fact that this would be a really good chance to earn some points in klaus' favor, he actually did want to help them, since they both sounded to be in quite a big deal of distress, but at the same time, Ben's words from earlier had him wanting to put some distance between them, at least until he knew for a fact that the man wasn't scrutinising his every move anymore. 

"I don't know Klaus, I'm not exactly a baby doctor." He responds, loathing how much of an asshole that made him sound,-"but, I do have an idea as to what might be wrong with her."- he quickly adds, waiting on bated breath as he listens to a mix of shuffling and static on the other side of the line.

"Dave, it's eleven fifty at night, we haven't slept a wink, I will give you a healthy bonus if you come down here and help us with Cassie." Came Ben's weary, slightly crazed voice next and that was all the permission Dave needed to get out of bed. 

"I'll be there as fast as I can." He promises, throwing on the first pair of jeans and a hoodie he saw on the floor.

__________________________________

Parking his moped and pulling off his helmet, he could hear Cassie's cry's all the way from the sidewalk, he quickly stuffed his keys back in his pocket and thundered in, heading up the same way he followed Klaus for tea earlier that day. 

He entered the front room, seeing the desperate and teary eyed faces of Ben and Klaus slumped against each other in front of a horribly upset Cassie, who was screaming her head off in her bouncer. 

"Hay Cassie." He greeted softly, crouching down to get a good look at her, she was sweaty, clad in nothing but a diaper and her face was scrunched up and rosy red as she cried at the top of her lungs. He gently grabbed her cheeks and tilted her head up, getting a peek inside her mouth to confirm his suspicions and sure enough, she had a little sliver of white poking out from the left side of her gums.

"Oh, poor baby, I see why you're so upset now." He cooed, picking her up and walking into the kitchen, silently noting her half asleep guardians. He opened the freezer, but couldn't find anything safe enough for her to chew on, he opened the fridge next and figured the cold carrot in there would do. 

He walked back into the living room with Cassie on his hip, the baby finally quiet and content as she chewed away at the large carrot in her hand. Klaus sat up, looking up at him with a face of pure wonder. 

"She, she wanted a carrot?" They asked, sounding as if they believed that was truly all it was.

Dave chuckled and shook his head, "No, she needed something cool to chew on, she's teething, seems like she cut her first fang actually, but I wouldn't breathe too easy just yet, there will be many more, I promise you." 

"Oh my Lucifer." Klaus breathed, they blinked and tears began to cascade down their face. Dave paused, his smile falling as he rushed to sit next to them, Cassie already reaching out for Klaus to hold her. Klaus put her in their lap, eyes still pouring as the damns really did break.

"She, she was in p-pain this-this whole time and I, I had no idea. I'm so shit at this." Klaus cried, clutching Cassie closer to their chest. 

"No, no, you're doing a great job, Klaus, you did the responsible thing and called me." Dave consoled, hand hovering awkwardly around them, not certain to give them a pat on the back or to just go straight for the hug. 

"I'm not though, the whole time she was crying, I just kept thinking, why!? Why are you crying? Haven't I taken care of you in all the ways I can? Why are you crying? Why won't you stop! I was so stressed out and, and aggravated, I didn't even think that she might be in pain. I'm a horrible parent." They sobbed, squeezing their eyes shut and shaking their head in shame. Dave felt gutted at what Klaus was telling him, cause they were being so overly critical of themself. He couldn't have counted the number of times he'd gotten fed up with his younger siblings. How he'd thought the same exact things on multiple occasions. Taking care of kids wasn't easy, and from what he knew, Klaus was never ready to raise one and yet they were doing a way better job then some people he knew.

He wasn't even thinking about it when he pulled Klaus in for that hug, the necromancer's head settling over his shoulder as he spoke,"Klaus, you're a great parent and Cassie is so lucky to have you. The things you might think sometimes, they're totally normal, it's normal to freak out and get frustrated, but as long as you can still make the best decisions by her despite that, then you're doing a better job then most parents I know and you did Klaus, you called me cause you knew I could help. You made the best decision for Cassie and she's doing so much better now."

It was quiet for a moment, the comfortable silence only broken by Klaus' inelegant snort. "geez, I can't believe I'm actually a parent?" 

Dave smiled, risking looking down at Klaus and utterly losing himself in the pretty shine of their eyes, mind quickly drifting as he tried to come up with the right name for the color green he was seeing and asking himself how often you saw eyelashes that long. He could honestly say he's never had a boss as pretty as Klaus. 

"If you take a picture it'll last longer." Klaus said quietly, a shit eating grin on their face. Dave had the urge to pinch their side just to get them to replace it with something else. 

Klaus burst out laughing, Cassie joining in on the giggles and soon enough Dave was a goner too, laughing his ass off with the two of them, completely ignorant of Ben a few feet away from them, who was somehow still sleeping through all of it. They eventually winded down, all three of them in better spirits then they started. 

"thank you." Klaus smiled, their head still a firm weight on Dave's shoulder.

"Anytime." He replied easily, but he could still feel Klaus' stare on him, he looked back down to see something more intense glinting in their eyes. 

"No Dave, I mean it, thank you for all you've done for us, for Cassie." They spoke softly, their face seeming to get closer and closer to his own, he hadn't even realized he was leaning down to meet their lips, until they were startled apart by a particularly violent sneeze coming from Cassie.

Klaus looked down at her and went white as a sheet. -"Oh no, mausezähnchen!"- they quickly got to their feet, leaving Dave feeling a lot disoriented and cold, but he shakes himself out of it and stands too, awkwardly noting the face down form of Ben, snoring and practically dead to the world on the carpet. 

"I gotta put Cassie back in her pajamas and get all three of us to bed." Klaus sighs, looking between him and Ben. 

Dave nods stiltedly, trying to not let the disregard to the almost kiss they shared hurt his ego too much. "Yeah, um, you should do that, babies need...sleep." 

"I'll walk you out." Klaus offers, but he shakes his head. 

"No, no, I know the way. I'll uh, I'll see you later." He says, already turning to leave. 

"Yeah totally, again, thank you so much Dave.",Klaus calls out one last time.

Dave waves a hand in response, not trusting his voice to not waver on him and disappears down the stairs and out of the shop. Once on his moped, he takes a minute to breathe and asks himself why he feels so disappointed with how that interaction went. He doesn't have an answer, so he starts the engine and let's it fester.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts, comments, constructive criticism, I love them all.


	5. Ch 4, Apology Cookies.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, in order to say you're sorry, you just gotta bake some cookies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edit my own stuff the best I can, sorry in advance for any missed errors in the ch.

The bell over the door jingled, signaling the entrance of a new customer, Klaus looked up from their task of organising their latest batch of glamours to see a tall hooded figure walk in. They looked around the shop curiously, as if trying to take every detail in, before turning and pinning their gaze on klaus. They couldn't see their eyes behind the thick sunglasses they wore, but Klaus still shivered at the heat of the stare directed at them. 

"What can I do for you?" Klaus asked wearily, coming around from the counter, but still keeping their distance. 

"I hear you just became a dad?" The customer said, voice deep and raspy. Klaus cringed at that, alarm bells going off in their head, cause of course word got around that they had a kid now, but that was the kind of question they'd get from regulars. Klaus has never seen this guy before in their life. 

"I'm not a father, now are you going to buy something or not?" They bit out, tone much harder then one they would usually use with a customer. 

The man stayed silent, his arm twitching as he fidgeted with something in his hoodie pocket. 

"Is it a boy or a girl?" He asked finally, hand still fiddling about with whatever he had on his person. Klaus wasn't sure what it was, but they weren't keen on finding out. 

"I'm not telling you that, please leave if you're not going to buy anything." Klaus answered back, nerves slowly climbing the longer they stood there alone with this guy. 

He was silent for another beat, then he took a slow step forward, sending Klaus a slow step back. -"Why won't you answer me? They told me you saw her last, so where is she?"- the man pleaded, inching closer until Klaus was pressed against the counter, their heart thumping a wild beat as the man moved to pull out the item inside of his pocket. 

"What's going on!" The bell chimed again, both Klaus and the man looking up to see a rather livid Dave stepping into the shop, his face hard and his shoulders squared as he made his way over to them. The man froze and looked between Klaus and Dave before shaking his head and leaving, calling out a quick 'i'll be back', as he walked out with his head down and his hands once again concealed in his pockets. 

"Who was that?" Dave asks, eyes still narrowed at the retreating figure passing by the window. 

Klaus breathed a sigh of relief, beyond thankful for Dave coming when he did. "I don't know, he just came in and started asking me about Cassie." 

Dave tenses, something dark and primal roiling up inside him. He hadn't been happy seeing Klaus cornered in their own shop, but also knowing someone was after Cassie? "You should call the cops, Klaus."

Klaus sighed and shook their head,,-"And tell them what, a customer came into my shop and asked me about my kid? I have people doing that everyday.",-They would love nothing more than to have that creep locked up, but they knew the system well enough to know that the police weren't going to do shit if they called. Even with their connection to Diego, the situation just wasn't substantial enough. 

Dave frowned, hating that Klaus had a point, but even so, "You were scared, I saw you, I saw him, he was going to hurt you!"

"I almost hurt him!" Klaus shot back, then continuing on a quieter note, -"Dave, you know I can't get the police involved, at least not yet, but I promise you, I would risk my life to keep Cassie safe."

Dave frowned, fists clenching at his sides, before finally letting it go on a defeated sigh-"I know, that's what I'm afraid of."-he muttered under his breath, shaking his head as he passed by Klaus to pick up his deliveries for the day. Things seemed to be getting more and more complicated by the day, and 'not part of the job description' was quickly becoming his new mantra. 

__________________________________

The next day Klaus stood stock straight and on high alert at the front counter, jumping out of their skin every time the bell jingled overhead. It was the fifth time they startled at the entrance of another customer that Ben finally came to stand in front of them, arms crossed with a pointed look ."Why are you so jumpy? You talk to the dead for a living, what could possibly scare you this much?" 

Klaus rolled their eyes, trying not to seem too embarrassed at being caught out by him, "Well Benjamin, I can do way more than just talk to the dead and even then I'm still human, so there's a whole lot of things that can scare me, most of which have to do with Cassie." -they snarked back, voice going a little weaker at the end though, cause it was the realest fear they've ever had in their life. 

Ben softened at that, already agreeing that yeah, something happening to Cassie scared the ever loving shit out of him too. "Did, did something happen?"- he asked, gut churning at just the thought of a threat looming over her.

Klaus shrugged, taking a moment to listen in on the baby monitor and reassure themself that Cassie was asleep and safe in her crib, then looking back up to Ben, face pensive,-"I dunno, it was just this weird guy that came in yesterday. He started asking about Cassie and I tried to deflect him, but then he freaked out on me, thankfully Dave came and scared him off. He said he would be back though, and now I'm just….worried." -terrified was the right word, Klaus couldn't help but return back to that morning at griddy's supermarket, replaying Agnus' fortune over and over in their head. Was this the looming darknesses she'd warned about? Klaus didn't want to put too much thought into that, thought led to belief and belief led to manifestation and Klaus….Klaus was real good at that particular thing. 

Ben pursed his lips, scratching at the back of his neck anxiously. "You wouldn't think this has anything to do with what Agnus said to you the other day?" 

Well, there went that, skipping thought and going straight into speaking it into existence. "I'm hoping not, but you know how fifty-fifty predictions go…."-klaus trailed off, flapping a hand in place of any elaboration on that statement. 

Ben huffs in response, already knowing how Klaus got with their superstitions. "Accurate prediction or not, Klaus, this could still be an issue, one we shouldn't allow to escalate if we can help it." 

Klaus' face soured, before they finally slumped against the counter in defeat, -"So, what you're saying is….Dave wasn't overreacting?"

"Maybe not, but it doesn't hurt to be cautious." Ben added. 

Klaus bit their lip and nodded, they supposed they owed Dave an apology. -"yeah, I guess not" 

__________________________________

"What's this?" Dave asked around his mouth full of turkey sandwich. He was sitting against the front of the shop, taking a small break and enjoying the nice day out. He hadn't been expecting a visit from Klaus, dressed in a tank top and shorts underneath a frilly pink and black apron. He couldn't say it was disliked though, Klaus looked cute and domestic and it made him oddly frustrated that he couldn't dare tell Klaus that. He really wasn't sure what their relationship was, cause it certainly didn't feel very professional at this point and friends felt too much like a lie considering what had almost transpired that night he helped them out with Cassie. It was complicated and he was hoping if he played his cards right, he could uncomplicate it, preferably in his favor. 

Klaus sighed and picked up the tupperware container they had dropped into Dave's lap, opening it up to reveal a plethora of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. 

"Cookies?" Dave asked, obviously seeing them for himself. They smelled amazing and he was glad he hadn't finished his sandwich, that way he knew to save room for however many of these Klaus would let him have. 

"Apology cookies." Klaus corrected, sounding as if the mere confession was hurting them. 

"Apologizing for what?" Dave asked dumbly, looking between Klaus and the cookies. 

"Are you really going to make me say it, I made you cookies!?" Klaus groused, looking like they were ready to go ahead and take their gift back if Dave was only going to stare at them instead of eat them. 

"I can see you made me cookies, I'm just confused as to why." He replied on a laugh, already wrapping his half eaten sandwich up so he could finish it after a few cookies first. 

Klaus sighed and came to sit down next to him, feet splaying out on the sidewalk in front of themself, eyes downcast as they fiddled with the frilly hem of their apron,"I talked with Ben yesterday and he said that maybe that guy from before might warrant some precaution and I feel bad for the way I reacted when you tried to say the same exact thing." 

Dave was on his second cookie when he stopped, skin crawling at the reminder of that creep from the other day. Reluctantly, he set the cookie back in the container and closed it up, "I grew up next to an imp family that lived just a few houses down from my childhood home, from what I know, they don't usually abandon their young, even half bloods are considered precious. If Cassie doesn't have a father, then there should be a reason right?"

Klaus' stomach squirmed at the implications Dave was getting at. Of course they'd thought about it, tormented themselves with it even. If Cassie's father was still out there, then did he want her back? Was it another family member maybe? Could they lose Cassie?, -"Her mother never spoke about the father, he didn't even seem like he existed in their world, so I could only guess what kind of man he was." -they could feel their eyes start to water the longer they shifted through the probabilities of having Cassie taken away from them. -"whoever he is, I won't…..I won't let him take her. Josie was left by herself on the streets to scrape by, she died doing what she could to ensure her child was as safe and comfortable as possible and this prick wasn't there a single minute to help. If he wants Cassie now, then he's going through me first."- Klaus gritt out, their fear quickly replacing with anger. 

Dave was stunned silent, eyes wide with how genuinely enamored he was by an angry klaus. 

"You'll help me right, Dave?" Klaus asks, an air of what seemed like a static energy resonating around them, causing strands of their hair to stand on end. Dave was tempted to poke his finger into it, to see if it would give him a little shock. 

"Yeah, definitely, I have your back Klaus." He responds instantly, a slow smile creeping onto his face. Klaus was always surprising him. 

"Great, I'll tell Ben, we're going to need a game plan, security cameras and I'll start on some protection charms!" Klaus grinned, already turning to leave.

"Wait, what about the cookies!" Dave called after them, holding out the tupperware. 

"What about them? They're yours, just return the container when you're done!" Klaus called back, already retreating into the shop. 

Dave laughed, then looked back down at the many, many cookies in his lap and his smile dropped.-"I do not have the self control to make these last more than a day."-he stated mournfully.  
______________________________

The sun was just setting when the bell over the door jingled for the millionth time that day. Klaus immediately tenses up, spinning around to see a pale faced Luther standing in the middle of the shop, his gaze flickering between them and Cassie strapped to their chest in her bright pink wrap. They instantly relax, their hand coming down reflexively to smooth over Cassie's head. 

"I was hearing around town that you have a kid now, but I didn't believe it." Luther finally said, eyes going glassy the longer he looked at Cassie, sat content in her wrap and chewing away at her frozen carrot. 

Klaus sighed, knowing Cassie was going to have to meet everyone at some point. "Luther, this is Cassidy Emmeranne Price, she's my god child and your god niece by proxy." 

A big goofy smile spread across Luther's face. He took a step forward, his arms outstretched towards them, then he faltered, looked down at his hands and retreating a step back, seeming to not know what to do with himself.

Klaus sighed, they knew Luther was a harmless goof ball at his core and they also knew how hard it's been for him since he'd been bit and the fact that he had been moon crazy and lost in the woods for the first four years of Clair's life, meant he never got to hold her as a baby. They legitimately felt bad for the guy and they supposed it was bound to happen at some point.

"You drop my baby Luther and I will send an army of ghosts to haunt you."- they warned darkly, pulling Cassie out of her wrap and gently passing her over to Luther's giant, furry, and slightly shaking arms. Luther grabbed her, cradling her bum and head awkwardly and almost too lightly, like she was an intricate artifact that could fall apart any minute. Klaus hovered beside him, keeping their gaze locked on Cassie as she moved her head around to get a better look at the new person holding her. 

"Hay there, I'm your uncle, Luther." He whispered down at her, bouncing subtly in place like he'd seen mothers do on TV. 

"Uh-uh!" Cassie squealed, looking up at Luther with her big one fanged smile.

Luther laughed and nodded back, like that one little phrase had the secret to life encoded in it. "Huh, what's she saying?" 

Klaus grinned, Cassie's enthusiasm was always contagious.- "Up-up, she's only ever this tall when I'm floating around with her, she thinks she's floating right now" -they answered, doing just that to be at eye level with Luther. 

"Uh-uh!" She yelled again, reaching out for Klaus to take her. They were mid reach for her when the bell chimed once more, they both turned around to see Dave frozen in front of the door, his paper bag of herbs and spices dropped to the floor as he stared them down. 

"Who are you?" He grunts, eyes still not leaving from the sight of Cassie still held in Luther's arms.

"Luther Hargreaves, who the hell are you?" Luther shot back, his eyes flashing a deep crimson in warning. Klaus tensed up again, ready to intervene if Luther dared to shift with Cassie still in his arms, but then they looked over just in time to see Dave's own eyes flash a deep orange right back. It happened so quick, Klaus could almost convince themself it was a trick of the light, almost, but they knew they saw it and now Klaus was onto Dave. 

"Knock it off, Katz, it's just my brother." Ben barks out, coming behind him and thumping a rolled up newspaper against the side of his head. Dave blinks, quickly coming back to himself and going wide eyed in embarrassment. 

"I'm sorry, I just, he's new and he was…. holding Cassie and….the man from before…"Dave trailed off, shifting his gaze away from the scene and back again, skin still itching to get between Cassie and the wolf. 

Klaus lowered themself back down, pulling Cassie out of Luther's reluctant hands and handing her to Dave. Dave was grateful and held her against his chest, taking a moment to breathe her in and calm himself. 

"What man is he talking about?" Luther asks, face screwed up in worry. 

Klaus sighed, they weren't wanting to get too many people involved in this.- "I had an encounter the other day with a man asking about Cassie, it was unpleasant to say the least, but Dave stepped in before anything could escalate." 

Luther frowns, looking to Cassie in concern,"If you guys are having trouble, then maybe you should give Diego a call."

"I already did." Klaus answers, a weary hand scrubbing over their face,-"I talked to him last night, told him what happened, but he said he couldn't really do much if he didn't actually touch me, even what he said when he left couldn't be taken as a threat, besides, he told me he was already busy working on another case."- it was exactly what Klaus knew would be said to them if they asked for help. They expected it, but it still frustrated them to know they were on their own in this sense. There was still a chance this could all be a fluke and that guy was just some crazy rando that had wandered into their shop, but Klaus didn't think they wanted to chance it.

"Like a homicide?" Luther asks.

They grimace, nodding in confirmation,"yeah, apparently some wizard got himself gutted like a fish in his own home." 

The air around them went stiff, the shop silent except for Cassie's high pitched babballing. 

"If you need me, Klaus-" Luther started, only to be cut off by a low grunt and head shake from Dave. 

"We got it covered, I'm here almost everyday and Klaus is having security cameras installed first thing tomorrow."-he said gruffly, his stance widening at the narrowed eyed glare Luther gave him. Klaus shot Dave a curious look, the man immediately wincing under the weight of their stare. 

"Yeah, okay, I think it's time I get going." Luther conceded, stopping to stroke a hand over Cassie's head,-"again, Klaus, if you guys need me at all, just tell me and I'll do what I can."-he said one last time over his shoulder. 

Klaus smiled and gave him a two finger salute, "got it captain, we'll let you know, don't worry."

Luther nodded at that and finally left, both Klaus and Ben simultaneously turning to Dave once he was gone. -"what the hell was that!?"- they demand in unison. 

Dave had the audacity to avert his eyes as he handed Cassie back to klaus. "I just...he was...I don't like wolves, okay?"- he admitted, rubbing a tried hand over his face. 

"Is Luther going to be a problem, Dave?",Ben asks, eyebrows raised at the now not so human Dave, though Klaus was starting to think they were the only one that hadn't known that.

Dave groaned, shaking his head "N-no, it shouldn't be and it won't be, I promise." 

"Why didn't you tell me you were a vampire?!" Klaus crows, pointing a finger in his face. 

Dave frowns in confusion, looking over their shoulder to Ben for help. 

"Dave's not a vampire, Klaus, he's literally been out in sunlight. We only ever see him out in sunlight." Ben supplies dryly, never having looked so done with Klaus before in his life. 

Klaus' eyes widen, then narrow once more, finger on their chin as they levitate off the floor and circle around Dave to inspect him, Cassie screaming and giggling a litany of 'Uh-Uh' as Klaus makes multiple laps around him. 

"You're right, he's way too buff to be a vampire, blood really doesn't have as much protein in it as you might think it would." Klaus comments to no one in particular, slowly coming back to the ground. 

"Are you serious?" Dave asks, a nervous laugh bubbling up in his throat. 

"As a furnenal." Klaus answers gravely, their head snapping in his direction so fast, Dave stumbles back a step. 

"Klaus, I'm a-" 

"No, no, don't tell me, I'm good with these things, I can figure it out." -Klaus cuts him off, standing back with their hand on their hips and giving him one more once over.-"eh, I'm stumped, I'll have to sleep on this one." -they throw their arms up into the air in defeat, already turning to retreat back up the stairs, leaving Dave to gape in confusion at how fast Klaus threw in the towel. 

"They're never going to figure it out, they still think Diego's a human." Ben says, clapping him on the back. 

"Diego is human!" Comes Klaus' response, muffled by the entire floor separating them.

Ben rolls his eyes, mouthing 'he's really not' to Dave, before moving to head up the stairs too, then calling over his shoulder- "Pick up those herbs Dave, they need to be dried and put away." 

Dave huffs, knowing he had at least twenty more minutes till he was off the clock. He turns to grab the bag he had dropped, but halts when his phone pings in his pocket. His stomach drops, cause he had a pretty good idea as to who it was. Taking a deep breath, he pulls out his phone and checks his messages.

He only had one. Status report, was all it said. The message marks itself as read and Dave stares at it for a little while longer, then he eventually clicks his screen off and slips it back into his pocket. He resumes his earlier task and picks up the bag, telling himself he would handle it later, he was still on the clock after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, how the plot thickens. Really wanting to keep the mystery going with this one, am I doing a good job so far? Comments and constructive criticism greatly appreciated.


	6. Me, I'm moppy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There isn't a thing Klaus wouldn't do to keep Cassie safe, but a slip up at the supermarket has them questioning their ability to do just that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do my best to edit my own stuff, so sorry in advanced for any missed errors.

Klaus was sat on a wooden stool at the front counter of their shop, a small tv installed at the far corner that they stared into as they played with the remote in their hands, shifting the cameras from side to side. They had a whole 360 view of the building, anyone entering, exiting or coming into a five foot radius of their shop would be seen and recorded. It cost them a pretty penny, but if that was the price for Cassie's safety, then Klaus couldn't complain.They'd do anything to keep her safe. 

"Those are some pretty high tech gadgets you got there." A voice drawled sarcastically over Klaus' shoulder, startling them into dropping the remote to their new security system. 

"Beelzebub, Five! You scared the shit out of me." They bent down to pick up the remote, throwing an angry glare towards the young looking man perched on their front counter. 

"So, where is she?" He asks in leway of an apology, as if the old bastard was even capable of one. 

Klaus glances towards the monitor then back at Five, "she's sleeping right now, it's nap time so don't you dare-" -before they could finish, Five was already zapping out of sight. Klaus went wide eyed and raced up the stairs after him. 

"You wake her up and I will throttle you!" They seethed between clenched teeth, coming into the room to see Five stood over Cassie's crib, observing her like some kind of specimen. 

"She's cute." He stated matter of factly, sounding like the observation was more for himself then Klaus. 

"Of course she's cute, she's my kid." Klaus whispered, coming to stand next to him. 

"Not by blood." Five shot back, face thoughtful as he brushed a finger over Cassie's chubby cheek. 

"No, not by blood, but still just as good." They were resolute in saying that, cause they knew better than anyone that blood relations didn't mean a damn thing. Even Five knew just as much as they did, that family came in many forms. 

"Luther told me about the man." He said next, turning a dark look towards Klaus. They felt a shiver run down their spine at the gleam of danger in Five's eyes. 

"It's not a problem at the moment, I have the security cameras and I just fished warding this entire building from top to bottom." Klaus said, hoping that's really all it took to insure Cassie's safety, but they supposed that was the real reason Five was here.

"Klaus, if there's a threat coming after my family, then I'm going to eradicate it before it even has a chance to-"

"Five, it's fine, I have this handled, I can keep Cassie safe myself." They cut him off, not wanting to drag anymore people into this mess, they already had Ben, Diego, Dave and now Luther all aware of the situation. They certainly didn't need a big shot warlock like Five making a fuss now. 

"I don't think you do and you wouldn't take that kind of chance with her, would you?"

Klaus chews on the corner of their lip, gaze still peering down on Cassie, her little chest rising and falling as she slept soundly. It physically hurt knowing that there was a chance she could be taken away from here, from her home, from them. As much as Klaus would love to turn a blind eye to the incident and pretend like nothing could possibly happen to them, they knew it was too nieve of a thought.- "I don't know what's going on, who that man was or what he would even want with Cassie and I've been walking on eggshells for the last three days waiting for him to pop back up again. But I know if anything happened to her, I would topple all of the heavens and the earth into hell." 

Five was silent next to them, mouth drawn into a firm line as he nodded his head along to their statement. "You're strong Klaus, I don't doubt that, but if you really want to keep her safe, then security cameras and your flimsy wards won't be enough, I can make a barrier for you." 

Klaus pulls a face at that,"Five, I still have a business to run, you can't barricade us in for our protection." 

Five rolled his eyes, moving away from the crib and walking towards the door. "I said a barrier you moron, not a barricade." 

"Hay, I know what you said, and they're basically the same thing!"-Klaus gasps in outrage, following Five back down to the shop where Dave was sitting at the counter,fiddling with the security camera remote in the same place they had been, 

"They aren't and if you were smarter you would know that." Five shot back, stopping to regard Dave with another roll of his eyes and scoffing at the dark look the man was directing at him. 

"Who is this?" He asks flippantly, gesturing to Dave. 

"Don't talk to them like that." Dave growls, nostrils flaring and teeth bared in warning. 

Klaus huffed, coming to stand between the two of them. -"Hey now guys, we're all friends here."- they said, before turning to glare down at Dave, "come on man, he's not even a werewolf, why are you getting all scary again?" 

Dave clenched his jaw, shooting Five another look before whispering back, "He was demeaning you." 

Klaus couldn't help the little smile that spread on their face, "yeah, well, he's just another one of my brothers, he's a little bit of an asshole so he demeans everyone." 

"I can still hear you." Five announces, just a foot behind Klaus, who whips around to smirk at him. 

"having a conversation here, rude." 

Five groans, but folds his arms and turns around to give them some semblance of privacy. 

"Thank you, now as I was saying, he's a bit of an asshole, but he's a loveable asshole, he's actually wanting to help us. Says he can magic up a barrier for the shop." 

Dave's eyebrows scrunch up, "what, we can't just barricade ourselves in?" 

"Oh my Lucifer, you're all imbicells!" Five spins around, hands dramatically thrown up in the air. Then he drops them and holds an arm out, snapping his fingers as a large black staff appears in his grasp. Dave jumps back in surprise. 

"He's a pretty high profile warlock." Klaus tells him, a smidge bit proud of that fact. Five was more than just 'high profile' he was the strongest Warlock this side of the U.S. 

"I will just have to show you what I mean." He says, tapping the staff on the floor twice, a swirl of blue smoke morphing into a miniature replica of Klaus' shop. -"this... is your shop, not very protected at the moment, but with my 'barrier',"-the smoke shifted to show the shop covering over with a force field,-"it's completely safe from any outside dangers looking to get in,"- tiny little smoke customers entered in and out of it while others were shown being stopped and flung away from it.  
-"allowing only customers with good intentions to come in and out, whilst those with bad intentions will be automatically deflected." -Five taps his staff again and the display vanishes. -"Do you understand now?"- He asks, brows raised dubiously.

"So it's basically a steroid version of my wards?",Klaus concludes.

Five sighes, "if that's how you can understand it, then yeah, basically it is." 

"Wait, but wouldn't a ward that strong require quite a bit of upkeep?" Dave asks. 

"Yes Fido, it would, but it will be worth it till the threat is properly eradicated." Five snipped, his staff disappearing as he crossed his arms over his chest. 

Dave held back a snarl,-"Don't call me Fido."

"Fine rodent, mutt, whatever." He shrugs, brushing Dave off with a roll of his eyes. 

"Alright that's enough guys, we're getting off track and I don't want any commotion in my shop."-Klaus cuts in, holding their hands out to placate the growing tension between the two of them. -"Five, we'll do the barrier, whatever it takes to keep Cassie safe, I don't care how much upkeep it requires." 

Five smiles, "good choice Klaus, I'll be here first thing tomorrow to help you set it up, should only take about an hour if we work diligently."- then he waves goodbye and promptly zaps out of sight. 

__________________________________

"Klaus, Cassie's out of formula." Ben says, coming down the stairs with a fussy Cassie strapped to his chest. He'd been adverse to using the bright pink baby wrap at first, saying it wasn't his color, but the fact that he could hold Cassie and still have free use of his hands had been a much too tempting prospect in comparison to the momentary embarrassment. So more often than not, you could see him meandering around the shop with a bright pink bundle over his chest, and if you were close enough, you would be able to hear him humming the little lullabies his halmeoni would sing to him. 

Klaus sighed forlornly, looking out the window and seeing the sun was making its way down the sky. They had at least another hour of daylight. "Alright, let me grab my coat and I can walk to the store." 

"No, I'll come with you, it's getting dark." Ben stopped them, his hand landing on their shoulder. 

Klaus huffed, shaking their head in exasperation."Ben, I can walk two blocks to the market on my own, plus who's going to watch Cassie, I don't want to risk her being seen if that guy is lurking around at all." 

Ben backed off, cause Klaus had a point, but that didn't make him feel any better. "Are you sure, I can call Dave-" 

Klaus held out a hand to stop him, "No Ben, he just went home. Dave's a nice guy, but I've already bothered him enough with my troubles, let's just give him a break, it's really not that big of a deal." -Klaus really did feel bad for how much they had been needing Dave, when the guy was only really being paid to drop off deliveries. -"we should also give him a raise, he's definitely been working over time for us." - they chuckle over their shoulder, shrugging their coat on at the door. 

Ben nodded, following Klaus a step out,"yeah, I've been meaning to do that." 

"Alright I'm off, moppy will be back baby." Klaus coos, bending down to smack a kiss to Cassie's head. 

Ben huffs,-"you really think she's going to call you that?"- he asks, smiling despite his dubious tone. 

"She will eventually if I keep saying it, now I'll be back too Benny boo." Klaus exclaimed, standing up to smack another kiss to Ben's head, before rushing out the door to avoid their brother's wrath. 

"Klaus!", "Be careful!" He calls out, Klaus flashing him a thumbs up in answer.   
__________________

Klaus was just out of sight from the shop when they sensed a presence nearby. They stopped, head swishing from side to side to gauge their surroundings. The sidewalks looked clear, not many people came down this way at this time of day, well it was dusk really. Taking a calming breath in, they forced themself to keep walking despite their growing nerves. The itching feeling of a pair of eyes on the back of their head nagging at them the whole way to the store. 

They entered, walking a little more briskly then necessary and making a beeline to the baby isle. They stopped in front of the formula section, head buzzing and whirling with nerves as they tried to remember what brand they usually bought. Their heart jumped into their throat when they heard the scuff and shuffle of feet behind them. They froze in place, paranoid as to who was there, but far too scared to risk looking back.

"You buying baby food?" A gravelly voice asked. 

Klaus squeezed their eyes shut, not sure what to do. -"Y-yeah, I'm buying baby food." -They responded hesitantly, fists clenched at their side, still not daring to turn around. 

"You must be a good dad, not like me. Me?, I'm a bad, terrible dad." The voice continued and Klaus felt like a bucket of ice water was doused over them. This was Cassie's dad, no doubt about it and he was turning out to be an unhinged bastard. 

"Yeah, why, why's that?" They asked, all alarms going off in their head as they felt the figure behind them come closer. 

A scuffle of feet and he was coming to stand right next to Klaus.-"I haven't seen my baby yet, not when they were born, not for months and months." -His voice went higher and higher, as if he was choking back a laugh even with the mournful edge in his tone. Klaus couldn't take it anymore and finally looked down, seeing the hunched over and hooded figure of a man with his face looking intently down at the silver object in his hand.

Klaus swallowed past the growing lump in their throat, definitely wishing they had let Ben come with them, but then again, they would have had to bring Cassie too and who knows what would have happened if this guy saw her. -"that's too bad."-they said shakily. The man huffed bitterly in response, methodically turning the switchblade around in his hand. 

"What's your baby's name?" He asked next, his face still obscured away from them. Klaus couldn't take their eyes off of the blade in his hand though. Watching him turn it over and over again, noting the dark splotches coating it. Klaus didn't know what would happen if they didn't answer, they didn't know if they should run or fight him off, but he wasn't threatening them yet, was he? 

"Her mother named her Cassie." They finally said, their spirit practically leaving their body, cause that was a bad idea. They shouldn't have told him her name. Though it wasn't her full name, it was still close enough and Klaus could feel their airways constricting. They'd fucked up, oh Lucifer, they'd fucked up so bad. 

The man didn't seem to notice their panic, only stilled in their knife flipping and inclined his head up at Klaus, not enough to reveal his face, but enough to show Klaus they had his attention. "That's pretty, she chose a good name." - he said, voice a little lighter, then they flicked their blade closed and stuffed it back in his hoodie pocket, turning and walking out of the shop without a word. 

Klaus was left in stunned silence, no idea what had just happened or what any of it meant. Their legs felt like they would buckle underneath them, but by some miracle they managed to grab the correct baby formula from the shelf and pay for it with shaky hands, before booking it back home, not caring how insane they looked running the whole way. 

______________________________

"You what!" Dave shouted, pacing back and forth through the shop. It was closed for the meantime while they worked out the barrier situation, but it might be extended to the whole day after Klaus' encounter. 

"I don't know what I was thinking, he, he had a knife and I could swear I saw blood on it, but nothing else happened." Klaus whined, they had Cassie strapped tightly to their chest and they weren't planning on putting her down for as long as they could help it. They already had tears welling in their eyes, cause both Dave and Ben were furious with them and they weren't wrong to be, Klaus had put Cassie in danger. They acted stupidly out of fear and made the situation so much worse. -"I shouldn't even be making excuses, I could have said a million other things, but I told him her name and now I'm….I'm fucking terrified!"-klaus finally broke down, eyes pouring over as they clutched Cassie even closer, she must have sensed their distress and started to sob along with them.

Dave stopped his pacing, face falling as he watched Klaus crumble to the floor in tears. He was upset Klaus had done such a stupid thing, but above that he was down right furious that some unhinged jackass had the nerve to stalk Klaus and threaten them with a knife. He wanted to tear into the fucker the moment he got his hands on him, but right now he was directing his rage at the wrong person. Klaus had been scared, they were alone and scared and didn't think, but they didn't deserve to be yelled at like this. His stomach churned with guilt, he needed to get a handle on his temper or risk fucking things up with Klaus indefinitely. 

"Klaus." He breathed out, coming down to pull them practically into his lap, his arms holding them together as they cried. His heart tearing in two as he slowly came back to himself and realized how fucking hard this must be for Klaus. How absolutely terrified they were and Dave hadn't been empathic to that at all. He made it worse even. -"Hay, come on, it's going to be okay. I'm sorry, I'm so, so fucking sorry I yelled. I was being a dick, but I promise you, Klaus, we're going to get through this. No one's taking Cassie. You have me and Ben, and Luther and Five, that bastard has another thing coming if he thinks he's gonna get through all of us." 

Klaus sniffed, they were still shivering in the aftershocks of their breakdown, head pillowed in the crook of Dave's neck. They didn't know what to say, cause they already forgave Dave. The yelling was warranted, they'd gotten an ear full from Ben the night before and things were still tense between them this morning. It was just the constant reminder of how badly they were fucking up, how everything seemed to be getting more and more serious, that finally brought them to breaking point. They wished more than anything that Josie were still here, Cassie deserved a real parent, not a fuck up like them. 

"Klaus?" Dave asked, looking down at them, his own eyes glassy. Klaus smiled, moving off Dave to wipe at their eyes and to check on Cassie. She was still teary, but was reaching out for Dave. 

"Uh-uh!", She demanded. Dave chuckled and picked her up, relishing in the way she immediately settled her head against his shoulder. 

"Do I need to ask what this is about?" 

They both startled, looking up to see Five perched on the counter with a briefcase in his hand. 

"Did you make my sibling cry?, Cause I will eviscerate you!" Five groused, dark eyes narrowed down at Dave. 

Dave blinked, not certain what to say, cause technically, he did. 

"A lot of stuff made me cry, Five. Things are just starting to get real is all." Klaus interjected, standing up on shaky legs, Dave following suit next to them. 

"What happened?", He demands, hopping down from the counter. Klaus sighs, cause they knew they'd have to tell everyone now.   
_________________________________

"Klaus, if this guy is stalking you, you need to call Diego." Five said seriously, setting down his mug of coffee. All three of them were sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying their prefered soothing hot drinks, while Cassie was in her highchair with a warm bottle of milk. 

Klaus' hands tightened around their mug of tea,"Ben already did, he called first thing this morning but couldn't get through, so he left to go track him down himself." 

Klaus still remembers how angry Ben was with them, how he had taken one look at them standing in the kitchen with Cassie that morning and immediately shook his head in disappointment, biting out a quick, -"I'll handle this."- before retreating back to his room and leaving Klaus to hold back tears as they watched him walk off. The only reason Klaus even knew he was gone was from the text Ben had sent him not even five minutes ago, saying that was where he was. 

Five rolled his eyes, taking another swig from his mug,"he's probably busy with that new case he's on." 

Klaus sighed already figuring that was going to be the case. They were on track to losing themself in their thoughts, but were quickly startled out of them by the clang of Cassie banging her empty bottle over her highchair tray. -"moppy!"-she yelled, laughing at all the noise she was making. 

Everyone at the table froze in place, the three of them looking between each other, silently asking if they heard that too. 

"Did she just..?" Dave started, Five and Klaus already nodding their heads in answer. Klaus for the second time that morning, was crying like a baby as they stood from their seat. 

"What the hell is a moppy?" Five asked, face scrunched in confusion. 

"Me! I'm moppy!" Klaus exclaimed in happy tears, pulling Cassie out of her highchair and swinging her around in joy.

"Klaus didn't want to be called mommy or papa, so they'd been trying to get Cassie to say moppy instead." Dave explained, a big grin on his face as he watched Cassie squeal and laugh as she was danced around the room by klaus. It was clearly the first time she was saying it, so he couldn't help but feel privileged to witness the moment. 

"How special." Five deadpanned, obviously not understanding it was indeed a very special moment. It was quickly broken though by the buzzing of Klaus' phone on the table, their smile falling as they came over to pick it up. 

"Hello?" They answer, face morphing from nervous to crestfallen. -"yeah, okay, I'll be there in a bit."- then they hung up, a tiredness settling in their eyes as they tucked their phone back into their pocket-"That was Diego, he needs my services for the case." 

Five shook his head and sighed, "you guys go, I'll work on setting up the barrier myself." 

"Are you sure?" Dave asked, although not fond of the man, he did feel bad leaving all the work to him. 

"Yeah, I am, you guys would just get in my way anyway, plus, I work better in absolute silence so you'd better the kid too." -he pointed towards Cassie, who flapped a little hand back at him. Five rolled his eyes, the smallest smirk playing at his mouth even as he tried to hide it with another sip of his coffee. 

"Alright, we can do that, but that leaves one more thing." Klaus said hesitantly, already getting Cassie strapped back across their chest. 

Both Five and Dave looked up with raised eyebrows. Klaus tried not to laugh at the mirrored expressions on their faces. "Ben took the car." 

Dave's face scrunched up in confusion while Five brought a hand up to massage furiously between his eyebrows. "For fucks sake, do I have to do everything!?" 

Klaus could only nod their head in answer. Five quickly scooted out of his chair with a screech, swinging his arm in the direction of the door. "Alright, everyone outside, the more space the safer the travel." 

Dave was still woefully confused as Klaus pulled him up by the bicep and steered him out of the shop. "What..what's he talking about? What's going on?" 

Klaus flashed him a toothy grin, bringing him to stand on the sidewalk while Five manifested his staff, muttering an incantation under his breath as he dragged it in a circle around them. "You ever been teleported before?" 

Dave's eyes widened, "he has a license for this right?" 

To his utter horror, Klaus shrugged. "He might, too late now though." 

Dave looked down just as the circle lit up in a bright blue aura and before he knew it, the earth was falling out from underneath him. The sound of Klaus and Cassie's manic laughter echoing beside him as all of his surroundings disappeared in a blink.   
__________________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd say this is where things definitely start to pick up pace. Has anyone figured out what Dave is,? Really trying to make it a big reveal, but I feel like Five's teasing in this chapter might have given it away.


	7. The interagation.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave and Klaus make it to the precinct, where Klaus summons the ghost of Diego's most recent case, while Dave and Ben have a strangly sober moment regarding Klaus, letting Dave in on just the kind of person the necromancer is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edit the best I can, so sorry in advance for any missed spelling or grammer errors. 
> 
> Trigger warning for transphobic launage and mentions of self mutilation. Also a bit of gore and body horror so you have been warned.

Ch 6 The interrogation. 

Klaus and Dave walk into the precinct. Klaus, already knowing the way to the interrogation room, makes a straight line towards it. 

"Alright, let's get this case solved, then you're dealing with my stalker problem." Klaus says to a confused Diego standing at the door. Dave makes to follow them inside, but Klaus holds a hand out at him, unfastening Cassie from her wrap and her to him. -"I don't want Cassie seeing an apparition this young, I'm okay with you, but unless you can find someone to stay out here with her, then I'd prefer she stayed away from this part of my life for as long as possible." 

"Klaus is right, if this corpse is anything to go by, then his specter isn't anything for the faint of heart, let alone a baby." Diego adds, crossing his arms in his typical tough guy stance in case Dave had the gall to protest at that. He didn't, he not only respected Klaus' decisions as a parent, but agreed with it. It wouldn't be right to expose Cassie to something that could possibly traumatise her. 

"No I get it, I'll be out here when you're done, Klaus." He says easily, moving to take a seat in the chairs across from them. 

"Thank you, Dave." Klaus smiles, waving a quick goodbye, feeling like they were saying that a whole lot now, but they never really felt like it was enough. They had no idea how they got so lucky meeting a guy like Dave, who just popped up out of nowhere and was relentless in his determination to help them. It like he came about at exactly the right place and time, Klaus would even go as far as to say it was somehow planned. They suppressed a snort at that, Ben was definitely getting to them with his scepticism, the guy certainly wasn't the optimist out of the two of them.  
_______________________________

"So that's the delivery boy?" Diego asks, eyebrows raised as he finally closes the door behind them. 

Klaus rolls their eyes, pulling out a seat at the table and opening up the plastic bags of objects pulled from the latest crime scene.- "That's him."-they answer shortly, hoping Diego wasn't planning on being an observant fucker at the moment. 

"He's cute, seems to be good with Cassie too." He comments casually, sliding into the chair next to them. Klaus bites their tongue, cause honestly, when wasn't Diego being an obserent fucker? 

"What are you getting at, Diego?" They ask, arranging the three objects into a triangle over the middle of the table, before pulling out their pack of chalk from their coat pocket. 

Diego smirks and shakes his head, his hands held up in a placating manner. "Nothing, nothing at all, now let's get this summoning going." 

Klaus rolls their eyes and drags the first stroke of chalk over the table. Wasn't exactly the time for boy talk, any other day and Klaus would love the distraction from a conjuring, but now, circumstances were different. They just wanted to get it done and over with, so they could focus on more pressing matters. 

____________________

"So, Five tells me you made Klaus cry." 

Dave sighs, looking up to see Ben stood above him with a to go cup of starbats coffee.- "I-I lost my temper, but it wasn't necessarily meant for Klaus, I was more so mad at the creep who'd stalked them all the way from their shop, with a weapon on their person no less. I apologised, but I don't think it will ever be enough for the way I acted"-he was still having trouble forgiving himself for that slip up, Klaus was doing their best, Dave knew that. It was just the thought that they and Cassie were in danger that messed with his head. He and Klaus were no doubt getting closer and that was a good thing, but he couldn't help but get all the more frustrated at how easy it was for him to care, to truly care for Klaus and Cassie. He hadn't known them for long, but Dave was already frothing at the mouth to get his hands on any fucker that threatened them. 

"I understand if you want to fire me, but I won't be distancing myself from Klaus or Cassie, I care about them too much and if I can help keep them safe, then I will, regardless of what you say or think." He told Ben resolutely. He needed the job, but he needed Klaus and Cassie safe above that. Things...things were getting complicated, but he still couldn't just stand by with those two in possible danger, and the near constant buzzing of his phone for the last few days told him a lot more than his delivery job was at risk here. 

"Moppy?" Cassie asked at the sound of Klaus' name, Dave chuckled and smiled down at her. 

"Yeah Cassie, moppy" 

"Oh shit, it actually did catch on." Ben exclaimed wide eyed, a slow smile spreading across his face. He shook his head and came to sit down next to Dave, "calm down man, I'm not going to fire you, I may have lost my temper with them this morning too. Only, I didn't apologize, I need to though, once they're done with the ghost interrogation." - Ben said, pointing to the door across from them.

"I've….never seen an actual necromancer at work." He stated, only a little bit disappointed to be missing out on the interrogation. Modern necromancers were fairly rare and their powers highly coveted, hence his being here at all. Someone like Klaus should be in a big corporation, making five figures a month with their talent, not running some hole in the wall apothecary and lending their services free of charge to the local police station. It was one of those things that made them so suspect, one of the reasons so many eyes were already on them. He supposed that put him in a particularly odd position, wanting to protect Klaus, all the while being an interloper himself. 

"Klaus hates it." Ben said simply, taking a swig from his to go cup. 

"What?" Dave asked, head swiveling to look at him. His face was his usual mask of indifference, but with something a little more sad shining through in his eyes. It might have been the first emotion besides exasperation and annoyance he's seen on the man. 

"They hate it, the necromancy, it gives them nightmares and anxiety. It was really bad when we were kids. I remember one time, when we were like eleven, I found them in their room, standing in front of the mirror with an ice pick in their hand. I asked them what they were planning to do with it, they said if they blinded themself then they wouldn't have to see the spirits." Ben blinked a few times, the moisture in his eyes clumping in his eyelashes. Dave was silent, not sure what to say to this, or why it was even being said at all, it sounded to be very personal, especially coming from Ben of all people. 

"I wrestled the ice pick out their hand, it turned into an all out fist fight, Luther broke us up and after I explained to him what it was about, he told our foster mother and Klaus was sent away to a mental institution for the next three days. They were a whole lot different when we saw each other again and even then we still barely understood how bad it really was for them." 

Dave swallowed, his chest heavy, if he thought necromancy was cool before, he wasn't so on board with it anymore, but somehow he doesn't think that was the entire point of the story. "Why are you telling me this?" 

Ben takes a moment to stare down at his coffee cup, pensively swishing the contents of it around in an effort to keep his hands busy and his eyes away from Dave's,"Cause Klaus won't. Klaus doesn't ask for help or explain what's hurting when they're hurting, they wait till they're already teetering on the edge of no return till someone finally notices and steps in, which is why this whole mess is new for all of us. Klaus actually came to me when they were scared and I flipped out, knowing that a month ago, Klaus wouldn't have said anything and tried to figure it out on their own." Ben breathed in a shaky breath through his nose, his eyes silently welling over with the tears he had tried to quell.-"Cassie changed Klaus, she changed them for the better, she's good for them." 

Dave was silent, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. What was Ben trying to say? 

"I'm sure you know now, as well as I do, that Klaus is fragile. They've been broken and beaten down so many times throughout their life, but they always find a way to piece themself back together, never once losing their love for life, which is ironic coming from a necromancer who's been surrounded by death since they were a baby." Ben chuckled, Dave couldn't help but smile back in response. -"what I'm trying to say is, Klaus is fragil, but just as resilient. They'll bounce back from this, they've probably already forgiven you and they're probably going to forgive me, doesn't mean we always deserve it though. Don't take their easy going nature for granted, Dave, Lucifer knows so many people already have." Ben finishes, slowly taking another drink from his cup. 

Dave blinks, taking that all in, something settling in him as yet another layer of Klaus was revealed to him. He couldn't think on it for too long though, cause the door to the interrogation room was banging open with a distraught Klaus storming out.  
__________________________________

~Fifteen minutes earlier~

"Wanna give me a quick run down on who I'm conjuring." Klaus asks, eyes focused on the intricate sigils they were etching into the table. 

Diego nods, pulling out a manilla folder and skimming over the analysis report, "A wizard named Leonard Pebody, he was found gutted in his apartment late last week, his innards were scattered over every surface of his home. Nothing was taken or stolen, all of his organs that weren't inside of him were accounted for, so black magic and wendigo has been ruled out, meaning whoever killed him had a more personal vendetta." 

Klaus sighed, already gearing themself up for what they were about to see. "Going by the fact that I'm here, I'm guessing there's no real leads?" 

Diego shakes his head. "None, no muder weapon, no fingerprints, not even a hair or finger nail sample, so our best guess is magic might have been involved in this one." 

Klaus nodded, knowing from experience how much magic could complicate a case. "Alright, were ready to go." -they said, packing their chalk away and clapping their hands down on the table, a blue aura resonating out of them and lighting up the chalk sigils in a similar glow. A breeze swirled into the room, the lights flickered and shook.

"I'm asking for the recently deceased leonard Pebody to please step through the veil I have momentarily weakened"- Klaus spoke aloud, the temperature in the room steadily dropping, they could see their breath puffing out in a white vapor in front of them, the hair's on their arm sticking up at the static supercharging throughout the room.-"Will the spirit of Leonard Pebody please step through the veil and join us in the realm of the living?" 

Klaus turned their hello hand over, their palm glowing even brighter as a silhouette slowly came into focus across from them. -"Leonard?"-klaus asks, the figure steadily filling in with more detail, till the body of a pale, bloody, cut open man was fully tangible. 

"About fucking time a necromancer revived me!" The specter spat, his arms crossing over his chest. Klaus flinched back, much like people, some spirits could be down right assholes. 

"Mr Pebody, I have some questions to ask you." Diego chimed in, trying his damnedest to not wince at the absolute gore the man was covered in. 

"Ah, a cop, you solve my murder yet?" Leonard sniped, dislodging an organ that fell out from the giant cavity where his abdomen should be, the punctured mass of tissue falling to the floor with a wet splatt. Klaus gagged and had to force themself to keep their focus, else they accidentally sent Pebody back to the ether. 

"Not yet, that's why we've hired a Necromancer to summon you." Diego replied calmly back, motioning towards Klaus, who was looking paler by the minute. 

"Summon? I don't want to be summoned, I want to be revived! I didn't deserve to die, especially not like this! Look at me, I'm like a Thanksgiving fucking Turkey!" Leonard screeched, shaking around in his rage, bits and pieces of himself shifting and shaking out. 

"Oh my Lucifer, I think I'm going to be sick." Klaus dry heaves, turning their head away from the utter horror show that was Leonard Pebody's body. 

Leonard scoffed, "Oh, you feel sick, it's my fucking body! Besides, aren't necromancer's supposed to be..oh I don't know, not fucking squeemish? Man up dude, you're not the one that got killed." 

Klaus grit their teeth, they were dealing with a whole lot of missgendering lately and they could only take so much for so long. "I'm not a man. Now can we please get on with this so we can get our fucking leads and solve your murder?" 

Diego nodded, pulling out a notepad and pen, "agreed, now Mr Pebody-" 

"Not a man?, Please, I'll go ahead and tell you right now, if you're one of those freaks who thinks he's a women, then I'm not going to respect that weirdo shit, if you look like a man and sound like a man, then I'm going to call it like I see it and call you a man."

The room was silent except for the sound of Diego's pen dropping, Klaus was a pot of rage just waiting to boil over.

"Damn it, Pebody who fucking killed you!?" Diego shouted before Klaus inevitably closed the veil and probably banished Pebody for good. Leonard looked to the red faced, heavy breathing Klaus at the table and understood that he'd just fucked up his only chance to guarantee his killer was caught. 

"Z-Zaph-!" He shouted, his image already fading out from sight. Diego sighed, glancing to Klaus who had silent tears pouring from their eyes. They scooted out of their chair and stood up. Diego got up too, trying to stop them from leaving, but was quickly pushed back by a telekinetic force. 

"I have one rule Diego! One fucking rule!" Klaus yelled upon exiting the interrogation room, Dave and Ben both springing up at the commotion. 

"What's going on? What happened?" Dave asks, pulling Klaus into his arms. His hold tightening at the feeling of tears wetting his shirt.

"Stupid fucking ghost, I can't, I can't do this anymore Diego, I have too much on my plate already, I have Cassie now and I just can't be your ghost whisperer anymore." Klaus cried. Dave was growling low in his chest before he even realized it, muscles tense and ready for a fight. 

"Dave, you can't fight a ghost, let's just get Klaus home for now." Ben said cooley, motioning to the car outside. 

"I'm sorry Klaus, I didn't know he was going to be like that. You don't have to do this anymore if it's too much for you, but I guess I should have known that anyway. We at least have a name now, so thank you." Diego said, looking genuinely guilty for how bad things had played out. He knew Klaus had a lot going on already, he should have known Klaus wasn't going to be in the best state of mind when he called them in. 

"It's fine, I just...I just need to go home." Klaus sighed, wiping their eyes with the heel of their hand. Lucifer, today had been a rollercoaster. 

"Moppy" Cassie called, making a grabby hand in their direction. Klaus smiled, their heart swelling at their new name and gave her their pointer finger for her to grasp onto. 

"Yeah, I'm moppy."  
__________________________________

Driving back had honestly been of the most awkward experiences of Dave's life. Since they had Five teleport them to the station, he hadn't realized how long of a drive it was all the way back to the shop. Meaning he sat through twenty-five minutes of uncomfortable silence, that was only partially filled by the constant litany of Cassie's babbling and the few sporadic sniffles coming from Klaus sat with her in the backseat. All of that paired with that weirdly emotional moment Ben had shared with him that evening, had him unconsciously making side glances at the man, who definitely felt every last one of his odd looks if his white knuckled grip on the steering wheel was anything to go by.  
It still puzzled him though. Why did Ben tell him all of that? Did he trust him now? Did he do anything to earn it, or was it some kind of test? It didn't make sense, but it wasn't worth the effort to ruminate too hard over, cause coming closer to the shop, he could feel the shift in the energy surrounding it. 

The barrier, he forgot about the barrier. Five had said only those with bad intentions would be deflected. He had... motives of course, but they weren't bad. Getting out of the car, he took a moment to stare up at the building, his eyes flashing at the rush of power supercharged into the forcefield protecting it. He wasn't expecting it to be this strong. 

"So, Five got it up already." Klaus stated more than asked, cradling a sleeping Cassie over their shoulder and peering up at the building along with him. 

He silently nodded his head, all the while his heart pounded loudly in his chest. He'd have to step through the barrier at some point soon and if he was booted out from it, just like Five's demonstration showed? Well, he supposed it was game over for him and Ben would probably, definitely eat him. He briefly wondered if he was to be consumed by the monsters in his gut, did it technically count as cannibalism?

"Alright, well it's naptime for mausezähnchen and I think after the morning I've had, I won't be too far behind." Klaus said with a yawn, their eyes droopy and still red from all the crying they'd done that day. Dave couldn't help the worried little crinkle in his brows, cause Klaus looked more than just tired, they looked deflated and almost lifeless. He didn't like it. Klaus was supposed to be vibrant and brimming with energy, not this listless husk that had such a clearly heavy weight over their shoulders. He knew Kluas was dealing with a lot right now and today hadn't been an easy day, but he couldn't shut up that shellfish voice in the back of his head. The one that complained about his situation and how he just wanted to help, but that wasn't what he was here for. It wasn't part of the job description. His jaw ticked unconsciously at that, cause he knew how much of a hypocrite he was being. He got himself into this, but day by day, he hated it all a little bit more. 

"Well, not sure if you have any deliveries left for the day, but I could use some help feeding Cassie before I put her to bed, you up to the challenge?" Klaus asked, shooting him a tired grin that had Dave's stomach fluttering in all sorts of ways. 

"Of course"-he responded a beat too quickly, more than ready to test the barrier out just to help Klaus, but as if right on que, Ben came stepping in between them. 

"Why don't you go on ahead, Klaus, I've actually been meaning to speak to Dave." He said, smiling gently to his sibling. 

Kluas tipped their head curiously at that, then shrugged, waving one last goodbye before walking through the barrier and into the shop. Dave nearly growled at the missed opportunity Ben had caused him. Then before he could react, he was being grabbed and backed into the car behind them, his back hitting it with a thud and his head tipping down to see a rather livid Ben fisting the front of his shirt. 

"I know I may have divulged some personal stuff to you today, but don't think that changes anything. I still have my eye on you Katz." Ben's face could only be described as murderous. Dave's eyes for the second time that evening, flashed at the clear challenge Ben was giving him. 

"I don't get you."-he breathed out, squeezing his eyes shut and forcing them to revert back,- "You tell me all this stuff about Klaus and basically imply you think I'm good for them, then you're right back to treating me like some kind of threat. I'm not a threat, Ben."- He ground out, knowing of all the things he's lying about currently, this was the one truth he could promise him. No matter what happened, or what he learned, he wouldn't let Klaus or Cassie get hurt, not even Ben himself if he could help it. 

Ben's eyes narrowed, silently searching Dave's face before his gaze glided down to his hand, still gripping the front of his shirt in a vice. He huffs out a defeated breath and lets go of the fabric, taking a large step back and smoothing out his hoodie as if he was the one to have gotten rumpled.  
"I'm sorry David, that was very unprofessional of me, I'v been...under a lot of stress lately, why don't you take the rest of the day off, paid of course." 

Dave practically had whiplash from the complete 180 Ben had just done. He opens his mouth to reply, then it clacks shut, cause what the hell is even going on? Finally he gets his footing and nods his head, -"yeah, don't...don't worry about it boss."-he scratches his chin dumbly, then points to the shop,- "I'm just going to get my…"-he's waiting for the other shoe to drop again, for something else to happen, cause he doesn't feel very trusting of Ben at the moment. 

Ben only smiles and nods back, stepping out of his way and gesturing to the shop door, "oh, go right ahead." 

Dave has nothing else to say, so he turns and marches in to grab his keys and helmet, completely forgetting about the barrier once again. It's not till he's walking back out to his moped does he realize he was able to go through it and it's not till he sees Ben still in the same place he left him, leaned up against his car with his arms crossed, does he realize that….definitely was a test. He rolls his eyes and stalks right past Ben, hastily saddling his moped with a huff. 

"I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning, Dave!" Ben calls out after him in an overly jovial tone, smug smirk firmly plastered on his face. Dave only grunts an affirmative, before pulling his helmet on and driving away from the shop, his mind ping-ponging from being elated he made it through the barrier and increasingly suspicious of Ben. The guy practically had a double personality, Dave supposed he could just chalk it up to possibly mental illness, but he had a feeling it was a little more than that. He's seen this sort of behavior many times before. Ben acted with the cynicism and paranoia of a man with something to hide.

________________________________

Ben came into the kitchen later that afternoon, where Klaus was sitting at the table, feeding Cassie a lumpy orange concoction that she liked much better than the peas. 

He cleared his throat to make his presence known. Klaus glanced over their shoulder for a moment, then quickly turned back to continue feeding Cassie without a word. Ben sighed, knowing he was going to have to be the one to start this conversation. He came around and pulled out a chair and placed it next to Cassie's highchair, giving Klaus no choice but to be face to face with him. 

"Klaus." He said, voice gentle. Klaus didn't even try to look at him this time, only scooped out more mush to feed into Cassie's open mouth. 

"Klaus, I'm sorry." He tried again, hoping he had enough inflection in his voice to really belay how sorry he genuinely was. 

Klaus huffed, setting the spoon in the jar and the jar on Cassie's highchair tray. "Ben, you know I forgave you already." 

"But you're avoiding me." He shot back, knowing for a fact Klaus had been keeping their distance from him since they'd gotten back from the precinct. 

Klaus groaned and ran a hand through their hair, "Cause it's hard to be around you, when I know you're so disappointed with me." 

Ben nodded, eyes sad, cause Klaus was right, that was exactly how he felt..in the beginning at least.-"I, I know, but I still shouldn't have freaked out on you as much as I did, I know you're doing your best Klaus and that you were scared, you came to me and I didn't react like I should have." -he said, his hands rubbing nervously up and down his thighs, he wasn't good at these kinds of talks, but he knew it had to happen.-" what I'm trying to say, is that I know you'd never purposely put Cassie in harm's way, you might not think it, but you're doing a good job Klaus, you're a good moppy."

Klaus blinked, taken aback by the affirmation. It was still hard to believe. They still felt like they had no idea what they were even doing, but it did feel good when both Ben and Dave said it. 

"Ben-" kalus' started, only to be startled still by the flying clump of carrot and mango mash landing in their hair. 

"Moppy!" Cassie cheered, her arms covered in the gunk all the way up to her shoulders, hand prints of it over face and head. 

"How the hell did she get so dirty so quick?" Ben asked, astonished at how good babies seemed to be at making complete messes of anything you gave them. 

"Boo!" Cassie bellowed next, pointing at Ben with her whole hand and spattering the man with slimy orange all over his face. 

Klaus laughed, already picking the gunk out of their hair with a washcloth. "I get it, cause I call you Benny boo." 

"Fantastic, I get a name now." Ben deadpanned, getting up to grab his own rag. 

"Aww come on, I think it's cute!" Klaus called, looking back to Cassie with a faint grin,-"isn't that right baby, you're so smart, coming up with names all by yourself. You're going to be a genius just like your moppy." 

"Now you're just lying to her", Ben snorted from across the kitchen, rubbing a wet towel over his face.

Klaus gasped, eyes wide in outrage,"I am not, I'm very smart and so is Cassie. In fact she's so smart, she should get a nobel prize for the English skills she's demonstrating today." 

Ben huffed, his head shaking as he turned to leave the kitchen, "she should get a bath for the mess she made and I'm not doing it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of regret asking for guesses on what kind of creature Dave is, you guys were cutting it pretty close. Next chapter is going to be a little late, but it won't be lacking, I'm definitely looking forward to posting it.


	8. The necromancer's grimoire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets of Dave's past come to light and a little more is revealed of what his true objective is when it comes to his place in Klaus' life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished, this one is packed with a lot of stuff and even then I debated making it longer, but I need material for the next chapter. 
> 
> TW for mentions of sexual assault and horror themes. 
> 
> I do my best to edit my stuff, so apologies in advance for any missed spelling or grammer errors.

Dave was having a particularly nice dream, one that involved a tranquil day out in the park with Klaus and Cassie. Their hands clasped together as they sat atop a fluffy blanket, Klaus feeding him cheese and crackers with a twinkle in their eye that spoke of other activities for later that night. Cassie none the wiser from where she played with her stuffed cat beside them. Dave had never felt so blissful in a single moment, then the bang went off, startling all three of them out their skins. Dread quickly filled his gut, his eyes wide as he looked all around for the source of the sound. 

"Dave, Dave, Dave!" Klaus chanted, their hands coming to grab his face and force his gaze into theirs. He shook his head, trying to break out of their grasp cause the sound was only continuing to increase in intensity and frequency. 

"Dave, Dave, Dave!" Klaus yelled, their face morphing into a pale, sunken in husk, just like a corpse with their flesh thinning and peeling off of them like paint on a wall. 

"Dave….Dave...Dav-" Klaus' lips weren't moving anymore, they were seemingly frozen in time and it wasn't their voice he was hearing either. It was a women's voice, one he hadn't heard in years. Tears sprung to his eyes, his throat constricting against the scream waiting to claw out of him. Slowly his eyes shifted down to Cassie, but it wasn't her that was there. It was a little boy just a couple months younger than her, dressed in a fuzzy baby blue onesie and he had the biggest toothless smile on his face. 

Then his eyes opened up and he was met with the blank white drywall of his bedroom ceiling. His chest heaving heavily as he laid in his bed and caught his breath, the sheets beneath him damp with sweat and his comforter a bunched up pile on the floor. Slowly as the ringing his ears subsided, he could hear more clearly the insistent banging he had first heard in his dream. With a sigh, he silently counted to twenty in his head, hoping if he ignored it long enough it would eventually go away. Surprisingly, the knocking did stop, only for his phone to begin buzzing with an incoming call not a second later. 

Groaning, he snags it off his nightside table, swiping the accept button and holding it to his ear. 

"I'm outside, let me in!" A female voice barks down the line before immediately hanging up. He rolls his eyes and tosses his phone down on his mattress with a huff. Glancing out the window, he could already tell it was way too early for this shit. He was tempted to try counting to twenty again, but he knew the phone call was already uncharacteristically polite for her. 

Finally, he rolled out of bed, standing and swinging his torso from side to side, relishing in the pop and crack of his stiff spine. The banging resumes and he quickens his pace down the hall. 

Unlocking his front door, he motions his guest in without a word. 

She raises a sharp eyebrow at him, face expectant and unimpressed all in one as she strides into his apartment without a word. 

"Good morning to you too, Patch." He deadpans, closing the door with a soft click, already knowing this wasn't a simple friendly visit. 

"You're damn lucky it's me and not you know who, lucifer knows that womens' always looking for a reason to sink her talons into your hide." She says hotly, taking a seat on his leather couch, her legs crossed and her arms folded. 

Dave's skin crawls with the mental imagery of that.. She wasn't wrong though and it only served to make him that much more uncomfortable. He sighs deeply and goes to take a seat across from her, rubbing a tired hand over his face, the phrase 'too damn early' playing on repeat in his head. 

"Yeah, and what does she want this time?" 

Patch hums, mouth pulled in a tight sarcastic smile, "You're not answering your messages and it's making someone very cranky." 

Dave wanted to snark back and tell her who gives a shit, but then he saw Patch's face soften minutely, the woman looking just as tired as Dave felt in that moment. Chances were she probably was. They had been partners in the beginning, so he knew anytime anybody wanted to get into contact with either one of them, it was always the other that got bombarded with all of the demands and inquiries. He could only imagine the number of people it took to scream down her ears to get her to make an actual house visit.

He sighed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair, "Yeah, I know, I'v just been-"

"Distracted." She cut in, wordlessly daring Dave to disagree. 

"Yeah, in a way." He conceded, not wanting to get completely into that. What was he to say? This wasn't a normal job in the slightest, so many unexpected variables had entered the mix and Dave had not been equipped to juggle all of them let alone any of them. 

Patch huffed, looking every bit annoyed at the lackluster explanation she was getting from him. "Then stop it, get undistracted and get it together, cause if you don't, they're going to pull you and I know you don't want that."

Dave went rigid, his gut churning with anxiety. If he was pulled, he'd never see Klaus or Cassie again and someone else would be right there filling his spot in their lives. His gums itched with the urge to bite and rend at the thought alone. That wouldn't work, he wouldn't allow it and that's where the real delimah lied. He had to do his job to stay with Klaus and Cassie, but his job wasn't in either of their favours, it was actively working against them. But he just wasn't ready to leave though. At this point he didn't think he ever could be. In a perfect world, he never would have to. 

"What do they want?" He finally asked, clawed fingers piercing holes into his leather cushions. 

Patch pursed her lips, "They want the book, Dave, they want it on record, pictures or a written copy, whatever you can do." 

Dave instantly jolted to his feet, his head shaking rapidly back and forth as he tried and failed to keep his composure.

Patch was quick to follow him up, smart enough to keep her distance, but stubborn enough to still press the issue. -"It's imperative, Dave, you know it is!"- She boomed, obviously not wanting to deal with a freak out from him this early in the morning. 

Dave stopped mid pace, whipping around with orange glowing eyes, "No, do you know how fucking dangerous it would be for me to not only touch a necromancer's grimoire, but to read it and copy it!" 

Patch scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief, "You can't possibly be scared of him, he's like-" 

Dave cut her off before she could even think to finish that sentence. "First of all, they're non binary, second, I'm not scared of them, I'm scared of…of…"-he trailed off, not really knowing how to fill that space in. What was he scared of? Klaus could never hurt him, he was sure of that. Ben? Yeah, Ben would probably murder him in a heartbeat, but Klaus wasn't dangerous. 

Patch fell silent, her face pensive then she took a hesitant step forward,-"Dave, you volunteered to do this job, to have a chance at getting the closure you've been needing for years, so you can understand my confusion right?"-her voice went soft and almost even hurt as she reached out for his hand.

Dave took a shuddering breath in, his airways congesting, as the mention of closure had an influx of memories flooding back to him. Maybe it was cause of the dream he'd had, though not a rare occurrence in the slightest, or maybe it was just the stress of the horrible situation he'd gotten himself in, but he squeezed his eyes shut and hot tears rolled down his cheeks. Slowly Patch had wrapped herself around him, Dave easily returning the embrace as he stood there and just let himself cry. It's been so long and yet, he was fully convinced that there were some wounds, time just couldn't heal. 

"I know this is a tough case for you, Dave. It's probably the hardest one in your entire career, but whatever is going on, don't let it steer you away from what really matters here." Patch's hands flexed in the fabric of his shirt, her voice gentle but firm as she spoke. -"these people aren't your friends and they aren't your family, but they are the key to putting the last of your demons to rest, don't give up on that." 

Dave nodded, a sniffle erupting out of him as he felt Patch give him one last squeeze before she pulled away. 

"You good?" She asked, eyebrows raised with a cheeky grin. 

"Y-yeah, I am, thank you Edora." He hiccuped, quickly rubbing at the left over tears in his eyes. It had been a while since he had a good cry like that. 

"It's no problem, Dave, that's what friends are for." She clapped him on the shoulder and moved towards the door. -"as much as I would love to stay and cuddle our feelings out, I do have to go and give miss thing a confirmation that I did indeed visit and speak with you." 

Dave's post cry endorphins were quickly soured by that, even though he knew that was exactly what it took to get Patch to actually drop by. "Did she threaten desk duty again?" 

She nodded. "Five weeks and you know I would not survive that long off the field." 

Dave grimaced, someone would definitely lose a limb if Patch ever stayed in the office for that long. "Patch, I'm, I'm sorry I've been so out of it with this case, I know it's probably been hell for you this entire time." 

Patch smirked, "it has, but it's alright Dave, just as long you remember what I said. They're not your real family, I honestly don't think they'd appreciate being replaced like that." 

Dave's stomach plummeted, his skin instantly going cold and clammy. He wasn't trying to replace anyone. But was that what he was doing? Even subconsciously, was he trying to put Klaus and Cassie in place of…."No! I, I'm not, I'm definitely not doing anything like that. It's insane that you would even imply that I'v-" 

"Imprinted, Dave, you're turning into a little baby duck." Patch deadpanned, saving no cushion for the heavy truth she had just dropped on him. 

Dave blanched, cause that wasn't right, it couldn't be. It was a complicated case, but it wasn't fucking with his mind so severely? -"I'm not a duck and I haven't imprinted."-he ground out, hating how he didn't even sound honest in his own head. 

"Then. prove. it. Dave. Get the grimoire and send every last page of it back to HQ for analysis, you have till the end of the week or they're going to pull you." Patch shot back, casually leaned up against the door frame with her arms confidently folded. 

Dave swallowed around the lump in his throat and nodded. "Yeah, I can get the grimoire. No problem." 

Patch smiled and pushed off the door. "I'll let the beast know, she'll be most pleased." 

"Yeah, I bet she will. I'll see you around Patch." He waved her off and shut the door. His skin buzzing with anxiety, cause things were just getting worse and worse.   
__________________________________

Heavy drops of rain pelted against the shop windows, only interrupted by the occasional clap and flash of thunder and lightning. It was the first storm of the season and usually Klaus would be the first to light up some candles and invite some friends over from the other side, but they had too much on their mind to dedicate that much focus into a Seánce. With a tired sigh they folded their arms and leaned against the front counter, their expression weary as they stared outside and watched the storm roll through. 

"Hay, you alright?" 

Klaus startled, losing their balance and tipping forward only to be caught by the elbow in a firm grasp. 

"Lucifer below, you gotta warn a witch when you're sneaking up on them like that." Klaus huffed, their exasperation quickly morphing into a giddy laugh at the thrill of their momentary scare. 

Dave grinned right back, never having met someone who enjoys a good jump scare quite as much as Klaus. "I'll try my best next time." 

"I don't believe you, but you know what, I'll let it slide, it's totally a werecat thing right?" Klaus shrugged, looking and sounding entirely sure of that statement. 

Dave nearly swallowed his tongue. Of all of Klaus' guesses, a werecat had to be the furthest off. "Klaus, I'm not a werecat." 

Klaus huffed, throwing their arms up in outrage. "Are you sure?!" 

"Pretty damn sure, Klaus." Dave chuckled in answer, maybe loving the little guessing game between the two of them a little too much. He always got a good laugh out of all the random creatures Klaus would blurt out in the day, every last one not quite hitting the mark. 

"Let me inspect your fangs." Klaus said next, leaning in close as if they could peer past his lips and at his teeth. 

Dave stumbled a step back, all the blood rushing to his face and a little bit south but his iron will power had him keeping that under wraps. "Beelzebub, you can't just ask to see a man's fangs!" 

"Okay, first of all, I didn't actually ask and second, you don't gotta make it so weird. If it makes you feel any better, I'd be more than happy to show you mine if you show me yours " Klaus wagged their eyebrows, eyes twinkling with mischief and Dave was steadily losing grip on that iron will power of his. He knew Klaus was mostly joking, but he also knew with Klaus, that things very much had the prospect to go there if legitimately given the chance. This was a chance wasn't it? An open invitation to make things between them so, so much more complicated than they already were and Dave could honestly say, Klaus had no idea just how complicated it truly was. He swallowed hard, throat bobbing with a wet click as he glanced between emerald eyes and cherry red lips. Without noticing, his hands had slowly come to settle over the boney jut of Klaus' hips, bringing them closer as their knees slotted between each other. 

They were inches apart, breaths fanning against their faces, all the while Klaus grinned like the cat that got the canary. "Oh, I like this plan better, I'll definitely get an accurate profile if I inspect them with my tongue." 

Dave laughed, hating how cliche that line was and that it was actually kind of working for him. -"I don't recommend that doll."-he said, extending his fangs and giving Klaus a good look at just how bad of an idea that really would be, his face morphing slightly along with the shift. He watched as Klaus jumped momentarily in shock, but instead of backing away like most did, Klaus stayed put and stared at him in a look of what could only be described as pure awe.

"Okay, so not feline, definitely not feline." Klaus breathed out, their smile getting bigger and bigger as they looked from the deep orange glow of Dave's eyes, to the impressive set of incisors in his mouth. They were K9, no doubt about it, but what kind was the question to be answered now. Slowly, they brought their hands up to smooth over a thick patch of inky black fur spanning from Dave's forehead to his neck. It was as soft as Klaus had guessed, and now they wanted to see a full shift just so they could pet Dave all over. 

Dave shifted back at the unexpected touch, his blood pumping in his veins as he realized what he had done. It was a lunatic display of trust he had just shown Klaus. In this world, shifters only ever shifted for one of two reasons, emergencies or to show a person every inch of their true self. Some cultures took those regulations to the extremes, Dave was from one of those cultures and showing Klaus a partial shift, with his fangs bared and all was basically akin to a fucking engagement ring. 

"Weird question, but do the claws stay on during sex, cause let me tell you, I would not mind if they did." Klaus grinned, hopping in place in glee like Dave had just shown them a particularly neat party trick and not the twenty mile hurdles worth of boundaries Dave had completely smashed through at full tilt. Of course Klaus didn't know that, it wasn't nearly as common knowledge as it once was, Dave just happened to be an old soul that followed outdated etiquette fifty years past it's prime, still didn't keep him from freaking out about it though. 

"Wh-wheres Cassie!?" He gave Klaus a gentle shove, pulling out of their space and desperately trying to salvage the situation he was actively destroying. 

Klaus moved back without much fuss, looking more confused than angry at the change of pace."up stairs, sleeping, the storm was making her agitated so I put her down early for the night." 

"That, that's good, what about Ben?" Dave asked next, taking a step out and towards the door. He had been heading out for the night when he noticed Klaus staring off into space and well...you know the rest. 

Klaus actually grimaced at that one, their arms immediately moving to fold back over their chest. "I don't know actually, he said he had to meet up with a friend. Which is weird, cause I honestly thought I was his only friend, but I'm hoping it's at least a romantic kind of friend, guy really needs to get laid, or whatever it is asexuals do to let off steam, aggressive cuddling or something." 

Dave chuckled at that, he couldn't agree with Klaus more, Ben was no doubt a tense guy. He was also similarly curious about this friend of his, which only served to strengthen his 'guy with something to hide' theory. "Can't say he picked the best night to go out for a beer, but I can say I'm honestly relieved to know he has social life after all." 

Klaus snorted, their arms unfolding as they brought the heel of their hand up to rub at their eye, a yawn pulling out of them with the action. 

"It's getting late, Klaus, why don't you go to bed, I'll be heading out right now anyway." Dave wanted to offer to make them a cup of tea, or anything really to get them to just sit down and relax for a moment. 

Klaus shrugged a shoulder, their head weakly shaking no in answer. "Can't, Five said the storm could weaken the barrier, what if...what if Cassie's dad tries to get through tonight?" 

Dave frowned at that, what kind of shitty barrier can't even handle a little storm? "Klaus, you're not going to try and stay up all night just to keep watch?" 

Klaus shook their head again,"Not all night, just until the storm passes." 

"Klaus, that's all night." Dave said slowly, already sensing a fight building up on this one. 

"Well, guess I'm staying up all night then!" Klaus crowed, turning around to angierly grab a horny cake out of the display case before taking a large bite out of it. 

Dave's eyes widened, what the hell was Klaus doing? The stress must have really been getting to them. "Klaus, the hell are you doing!?" 

Klaus rolled their eyes and continued to munch away at the confection in their hand. "Chill out, these things don't even have a lick of aphrodisiac in them, they're actually energy bars that give you a slight power boost, I just started calling them horny cakes, cause I found out that's what my customers were buying them for." 

Dave paused, thinking back to all of the happy 100 plus year olds who vehemently swore by the power of Klaus' magic horny cakes and the wonders they did for their marriages. "You've been selling old man Gunther a placebo this whole time." 

Klaus threw their hands out in a 'what does it matter' gesture- "Old man Gunther's a perv that also buys my lavender lotion by the gallon." 

Dave cringed, cause he also noticed that particular fact in the short while he's been working at the store. "Yeah, I delivered him two whole bottles just last week.", "But thats besides the point, you need to sleep Klaus, so stop eating that horny cake, cause I promise you nothing is going to happen tonight." 

"I want to believe you, Dave, but I have this thing called paranoia that makes it very hard to do, so please respect that I can't." Klaus drawled dryly, reaching out to grab another cake from the case. 

Dave quickly surged forward to grab their wrist. His fight or flight instincts tingling the slightest bit at the death glare Kluas shot him in return. 

"Willst du eine Hand verlieren?" They asked darkly. 

He blinked blanky in response, having no idea what Klaus had just said, but getting the feeling that it wasn't a pleasant question. "To answer that, no, and I'm serious Klaus, go to sleep, you're no use to Cassie if you can barely keep yourself awake in the morning." 

"And what if she's not here in the morning cause I didn't keep watch tonight?" Klaus shot back, yanking their arm out of his grasp. 

Dave sighed, taking a moment to look outside, it was pitch black now, the storm still going strong, but aside from that, nothing. Nothing and no one was out there. "She will be, cause nothing is here to get her. The barrier is still up, your home is still warded from top to bottom and you still have the security system set up. The two of you are safe, Klaus." 

Klaus chewed at their bottom lip, taking a glace outside just like Dave had and slowly coming to accept that everything was alright, just as Dave was saying. "Yeah, okay, maybe you're right, but I don't even know if I can get myself to even relax enough to fall asleep, especially without Ben here, I'm not on my own with Cassie like this very often." 

Dave let out a relieved breath, finally having coaxed Klaus into taking the healthier path tonight. "What if I help?" 

Klaus frowned, "what?" 

"I can help you to bed and make sure you're comfortable enough to sleep." Dave elaborated, face hot as he heard the words that just left his mouth. 

"I don't need you to tuck me in Dave, I'm a grown up, I promise you." Kluas chuckled, their cheeks tinted pink all the same.

Yeah, that hadn't been his intentions, but that's certainly what they sounded like. "It's not tucking you in, I'm just helping you get settled is all." 

Klaus smiled, their eyes looking droopier by the minute, they took one last look outside then sighed, nodding their head in answer."alright, tuck me in papa Katz, I'm ready for bed." 

Dave laughed and moved to follow Klaus up the stairs. They came to the room where Cassie was still tucked away in her crib, sleeping through the rest of the storm. He took a moment to peek in on her, his chest clenching painfully with an overflow of emotion. She was just a baby, she didn't deserve a single card that life has thus far played out for her and he didn't feel like he was making her situation any better.

"Little monster cried for hours before I could get her to chill out and finally sleep, wouldn't let me put her down the entire time she heard all that thunder outside." Klaus chuckled sleepily, coming to stand next to him and watch over Cassie snoozing away in her crib. Dave could feel his heart beat a little harder, his cheeks heating up at how domestic this felt. He had to keep repeating, not my family, in his head, cause they weren't. Klaus and Cassie were a job, an extremely complicated job that he had somehow gotten emotionally invested in, but he could just as easily uninvest himself. He had no other choice but to. Not if he wanted to stay here just for a little bit longer. 

"Let's hope you won't be as much a hassle to put to bed." Dave laughed, his voice just barely above a whisper as he shot them a quick glance. 

Klaus smiled, still looking particularly tired as they moved towards the closet. "Turn around and close your eyes, I'm putting my PJ's on." 

Dave jolted, then quickly turned around and squeezed his eyes shut. His palms sweating as he heard the rustle of clothing and then the click of the closet door, singling Klaus was done getting changed, but even then Dave didn't turn around till he had a verbal affirmative. 

"I'm done, you can look now." Klaus laughed. 

Dave slowly turned around, definitely not ready for what Klaus had chosen to wear to bed tonight. 

"Is that?" 

"I used to sleep naked before I got my itty bitty roommate, so I switched up to a T-shirt and shorts, but since it's getting colder, I thought, why not match?" Klaus stood with their arms and legs spread out, in a classic Ta-da position. The necromancer clad in a purple and black cat onesie. Almost identical to the pink and black one Cassie was currently wearing. Dave was at a loss for words, his chest feeling like it was going to crack open with how much his heart was swelling inside it. Klaus...Klaus looked impossibly cute. He wanted to grab them by their cat faced hood and smack a kiss to the tip of their nose. 

"You're awfully quiet, Dave, I thought you were going to tuck me in tonight?" Klaus pouted out their bottom lip, eyes big and innocent and Dave was almost certain he was going to die. Nothing in this world could convince him Klaus was a dangerous person, not with a face like that. 

Dave grinned and nodded, moving to pull the covers back from Klaus' bed and gesturing for them to jump in. Klaus was quick to lay down, their eyebrows bouncing up and down as Dave covered them back over, essentially tucking them in for the night. Then he turned to leave. 

"Wait." Klaus called out, catching his wrist and stopping him in his tracks. 

Dave looked down at them, his eyebrows raised in question. Klaus looked pensive, their bottom lip pulled between their teeth as they ruminated on something. Then they inched their finger at him, in request for Dave to squat down and lean in closer. With an eye roll, he did just that, moving to sit on the floor and be at eye level with Klaus.

"What's up?" He asked, and before he knew it, a hand was gently placed over his cheek and Klaus was just a breath away, their eyes scanning every inch of his face as their tongue darted out to wet their lips and Dave couldn't help but to track the movement. 

"I also wanted a goodnight kiss." They whispered, sounding so much more serious and vulnerable then they had been minutes ago in the shop. 

Dave didn't think he could handle the number Klaus was certainly doing on his heart, he'd go into cardiac arrest before long and somehow, he didn't think he would regret it. 

"Well, If it's just a kiss." Dave smirked, leaning in and capturing Klaus' mouth. It quickly delved into something deeper and Dave was acting on autopilot as he climbed into the bed and over Klaus, moving lower to suck marks into Klaus neck and feeling his blood heading in all directions at the low groan it pulled out of them. Spurred on, he let his hands travel lower, then like a switch being flipped, Klaus was chanting stop and shoving him off. He sprung up and put immediate distance between them, a thousand apologies ready to spill off his tongue, but they didn't make it past the low whine that resonated out of his throat instead. Klaus' eyes were wet, their cheeks flushed as they apologized profusely. 

"Sorry, sorry, it's just, I really did only want a kiss, I know I made it seem like maybe I wanted more, that's my fault I tend to give guys the wrong idea, and plus it's kind of weird doing anything more with Cassie in the room, and again, I led you on and-" 

"Klaus." Dave cut off their rambling before they could work themself up any worse then they already had. His hands coming down to grip theirs, the minute flinch of their hand painting a very clear and ungly picture in his head. He didn't let go though, cause he had to prove to Klaus with his actions and not just his words, that his touch wasn't to be feared.-"Klaus, don't apologise, not for something like this. You wanted me to stop and I stopped, I will stop, no matter the reason, I will always stop." 

Klaus nodded, still looking frazzled as they rubbed away the wetness from their eyes. "Thank you, I just... I'v had some really shitty stuff happen to me in the past." 

Dave bit back the guttural growl building in his stomach, his assumptions couldn't get anymore confirmation than that, and he hated it. He had to physically keep his eyes from flashing, whoever these people from Klaus' past were, he hoped they got what was coming to them, or else Dave would have to find them himself. "I'm sorry to hear that Klaus, do you want me to leave?" 

Klaus was quick to shake their head. "No, please, please just stay for a little bit, just until I fall asleep."-they tugged at his arm and pulled him down until they were lying side by side, their hands still intertwined. 

"We don't have to talk about it." Dave offered. 

"I don't plan on talking about it." Klaus answered back. 

"What do you want to talk about?" 

"Literally anything else." 

So they talked. They talked about Cassie, who Ben's secret friend could be and how long a typical batch of horny cakes took to make. They talked until Klaus eventually drifted off and Dave was left in the silence, wishing he could just curl around them and fall asleep too. He didn't though, cause Patch's voice rang loud and clear in his head. This isn't his family. No matter how much he felt like they were, no matter how much guilt and grief welled up inside of him, he had a job to do. And delivery boy for Klaus' apothecary wasn't it.

He pressed one last kiss to Klaus' temple, then slowly got up from the bed, taking a step towards the door and waiting for a moment, cause he knew it was in here and that it was going to be difficult to find. He thought back to the last time he was here, he helped Klaus bathe Cassie, he made to follow them out, then he mapped out the room. Mentally retracing his steps, he knew it was the last place he looked. The dresser. He scanned his eyes to the dresser and there it was, right next to the burning insnece. He grabbed his bag and pulled out a hunk of clay. He picked up the leather bound book and replaced it with the tan blob, indiana jones style. Within seconds it morphed and took the shape of the book, turning into an exact replica. The glamour lasted a total of three days, It should be enough to buy him time to make his copies, he just hoped Klaus wouldn't need the book before then. 

Quickly, he stuffed it into his bag and silently slipped out the door and down the hall, not noticing the shadowy figure standing in the pitch black doorway of Ben's room. 

Once at home, Dave didn't waste any time pulling the book out and flipping through page after page. He couldn't lie and say he felt absolutely nothing as he opened up the grimoire to that first page, a visceral sense of dread boiling over in his gut as he realized there was no going back. He'd crossed a line and he would continue to plow head first through so many more as he took out his phone and snapped one picture after the other, not even bothering to read the pages cause he somehow thought that made up for the severe breach in trust he was currently committing. It didn't, and he knew that If Klaus ever found out, then he could say goodbye to whatever it was they had together. Goodbye to Cassie and witnessing all of her milestones, goodbye to stormy nights spent wrapped around each other and quiet conversations spoken into the dark. He wasn't a baby duck, he told himself. He didn't imprint. But then why, why did this feel like he was on the cusp of losing his family for the second time. 

He stared down at the book, not realizing he was crying until he saw the wet dots accumulating on the page he was opened up to. He hated this. He hated that he had volunteered so eagerly for this case. He hated that he was convinced it would get him answers when all it was doing was making him question more. Klaus was a good person, Dave didn't doubt that, so it must be someone else, someone else responsible for what happened and he could prove it, but in order to do that, he still had to do this. 

By the time he'd taken the last photo, his hands were shaking and his gut churned nauseously. He felt drained and sickly almost, he supposed that's what happened when you touched a necromancer's grimoire and for as long as Dave had had it in his hands. He was quick to put it away on his desk, tossing his phone down along with it, the device no doubt tainted with the numerous pages saved onto it. He was only standing for a couple of seconds but a wave of vertigo suddenly hit him and before he knew it, he was tipping forward and face planting into his bedroom carpet.

When he came to next, the sun was high in the sky and filtering in through a crack in his curtains. With a jolt he got to his feet and looked around, his eyes instantly landing on the grimoire sat atop his desk. A chill ran up his spine, it was opened to a random page, but he could have sworn it was closed when he last set it down, which funnily enough felt like only moments ago. Slowly he walked over to it and peeked down at the page on display. It was a spell...or really a hex..for liars and deceivers. He took a moment to just stare at it and maybe convince himself this wasn't real and perhaps even just a bizarre stroke of coincidence. Grimoire's weren't usually sentient like this were they? A hollow chuckle bubbled up out of his throat, did he maybe accidently get himself cursed? That was a very high probability, but he didn't have the emotional strength to think too long on that. Quickly he closed the book and stuffed it back into his bag, deciding he had gotten all he needed and this was getting returned soon as possible.   
_________________________________

Klaus had been glad they listened to Dave and actually went to sleep that night. They also didn't mind the little makeout session they had shared before that, but after a couple hours into the afternoon, they were starting to think that maybe Dave wasn't so okay with it. 

"Dave, can I speak with you a moment?" Klaus asked, catching the man before he had a chance to run out the door like he had been doing all morning. They understood he had a job and he was out most of the day running deliveries, but today had just been…. different. It wasn't even all that busy of a day and yet Dave was nowhere to be seen for the majority of the morning. It had Klaus feeling like they'd fucked up and maybe crossed a couple lines that they knew Ben had very adamantly warned about and they were seeing now that it was with good reason, especially with the wide eyed look Dave was giving them currently. 

"Sure thing boss." Dave said slowly, as if he was unsure of what he was even saying. 

That definitely gave Klaus pause. Dave called Ben boss, but not them. That was a red flag if Klaus had seen any and now they just wanted to go upstairs and cry. They fucked up. They fucked everything up with Dave and for some reason they really thought they saw something genuine there between them. Then again, they saw something genuine with the last guy. A heavy lump settled in their throat, gut churning with nausea at the rush of memories that brought them. They've been wrong before, so what makes this time any different? Still didn't stop it from hurting. 

"What's up?" Dave asked, keeping a wide breadth from klaus, his arms crossed and stance tense. 

Klaus couldn't help but to frown. This was not the Dave they had been with just a night ago, this was a closed off son of a bitch trying to play it cool when it clearly wasn't.- "Did I fuck up?"- they asked, ready to deflect any and all bullshit Dave was no doubt going to spew in defense. 

Dave blinked, looking almost affronted by Klaus' forwardness, before quickly recovering and continuing to shake his head no. "What? No, of course not." 

"Don't bullshit me Dave, I'm very fluent in bullshit and I know it when I hear it. what happened? Why are you avoiding me like the plague?" Klaus really tried to keep their voice from wavering, but it did and they saw the flash of hurt on Dave's face as he took a slow step forward, only to retreat back as if reminding himself of something that Klaus just wasn't in on. 

"I haven't-" he stated, sounding sure but not looking it in the least.

"You have." Klaus countered, their own hurt quickly bubbling into agitation. Everything had been fine just yesterday, but something changed and they just wanted to know what it was that caused it, so they could fix it. They didn't care if anything came out of the night they had, just as long as Dave was still their friend in the end. 

"I didn't mean to-" Dave said, sounding small.

Klaus sighed, not wanting to be tough on Dave, but still needing him to know that his actions hurt. "But you still did." 

"Klaus." Dave breathed out, not knowing how to salvage this. He felt bad, he felt bad for so many reasons, but none of which he could dare say aloud. 

"Just tell me what happened, where I crossed the line. Was it the onsie?" Klaus asked, eyes pleading for an answer. 

"No." 

"The kiss?" 

"No." 

"Was it cause I freaked out and pushed you off?" 

Dave was quick to correct that one,"No, Klaus I told you, you have every right to push me off whenever you want to." 

"Then what!?" Klaus bellowed, emotions back to agitated again. 

"It's cause I don't want to break you!" 

"Break me?" 

"I….last week...when I was waiting for you during the interrogation, Ben and I had a discussion." 

"About…?" 

"About you and how….fragile you can be." 

"The hell do you mean by fragile?" Klaus' eyebrows crinkled together, their face screwed up in utter confusion. 

Dave felt like he was treading on thin ice, where the hell was he going with this one? "He said you were fragile, but also just as resilient, but….when you told me about the shitty stuff from your past I can't help but to feel like I'm maybe taking advantage." 

Klaus' eyebrows shot up to their hairline, looking rightfully scandalized by the information,"Okay, first of all, fuck you and fuck Ben for having little secret talks about me and secondly, how in the hell would you be taking advantage of me Dave, I asked you to kiss me." 

Dave bit the inside of his cheek, he knew that, he knew he would never do a single thing to take advantage of Klaus, at least not in that way. Little can be said for what he actually was doing currently, but it was the only thing he could think of and he had to spin it in that light or else risk blowing his cover. "I...I know...but your situation is pretty bad Klaus." 

Klaus looked rightfully furious at that, their eyes lighting up with something ferocious as the air chilled around them. For the second time, Dave's fight or flight instincts were tickling with the prospect of a threat. He stayed put though and barreled on. "Wait, wait, hear me out. You're a single parent Klaus, you've had a tough past and you've got a deranged psycho stalker out for you and your child, you're going to want to seek comfort even if it's not in your best interest." 

Klaus' nostrils flared, their chest heaving as they let Dave's words sink in. Dave waited on bated breath to see if his bullshit spew actually worked. Slowly klaus' tense posture softened as their face dropped in understanding. "I...yeah you have a point, Ben was telling me the same thing." 

Dave sucked in a raleaved breath, for once thankful for Ben and his overly protective nature. His releaf didn't last long though, cause looking back at Klaus he could see they weren't exactly happy with the conclusion they came to. They looked sad and disappointed and Dave didn't have to take too wild of a guess to know it wasn't him they were disappointed in. 

"You know, I used to be a hopeless drug addict for almost twenty years, you'd think after getting clean I'd recognize my self destructive coping habits by now." They rubbed their eyes, eyelashes glistening and clumping together with moisture. Dave felt sick to his stomach, cause he did that, he made Klaus cry again and this time it was more intentional then the last. Ben was no doubt going to skin him alive and hang him up to cure like a festival hog. 

"It's okay Klaus, you don't need to explain yourself to me, I know it's... complicated." He couldn't help but falter on that, cause at this point, complicated wasn't the half of it. 

Klaus chuckled, finally seeming to gather themself back enough to flash Dave a cheeky grin. "Boy have I heard that one before, but I'll have you know that I'm pretty good at complicated." 

Dave huffed a breath, more amused then annoyed, but that's how it always was with Kluas. 

"Alright, alright, I relent, honestly Dave, I don't care either way what happens between us, just as long as you plan to stay in mine and Cassie's life." 

Dave swallowed, the floor practically falling out below him. He didn't want to leave, but he was never meant to be here from the beginning. He could tell Klaus that wouldn't happen, that he'd be here for as long as Klaus would have him. It was the truth, but at the same time it was also a lie, cause he had to go at some point. Weather that be at Klaus' request or the demands of his employers, no matter what Dave knew he couldn't stay. For a moment he just stood there tongue tied, thoughts racing as he tried to come up with some sort of answer. He's done such a good job saying whatever it took to keep his cover, but he was wearing thin. He had an easier time lying to Ben, but looking at Klaus and all their hopefulness and trust in him, he just didn't know how much longer he could keep doing this. Not when he kept doing more and more to make himself the villain of this story. 

"Dave, you do plan to be part of our lives right? I mean, you fit right in with my family and Cassie loves you and I….I…." Klaus trailed off, their voice cracking and breaking weakly. Their eyes welling up full force. 

He stayed silent, knowing no matter what he told Klaus, it would still be a lie, just like everything else the necromancer's come to know about him. It hurt, he wanted to break down and scream out how done and over he was with this case. How fucked it was that he just wanted closure for what happened to his family but he ended up finding a new one, one that he couldn't even keep. In the end, he had a choice, the family he lost or the family he found. "I...I can't be Cassie's dad for you Klaus, we're friends but she's not my responsibility to help you raise." 

A roaring silence settled between them, Klaus falling deathly still, their mouth opening and closing before finally shutting with a klack. They nodded, eyes squeezed tight with tears escaping down their face, then they turned and walked away. Dave stayed there, watching them leave and feeling like his fate had been properly sealed. He knew Klaus must be so confused right now, so fucking hurt, but it was for the best. He wouldn't have been able to stay, even though he wanted to. So he might as well do what he came here for.   
__________________________________

The day after that was awkward and angsty to say the least, he and Klaus kept a good distance away from one another and he had Ben corner him on more than one occasion asking him what he had done to their sibling. He didn't have any better answer besides, "we had a fight." 

"Well fix it." Ben demanded, jabbing a boney finger in his chest. 

Dave nodded, cause he certainly planned to, but at the same time, he was curious why Ben even cared. shouldn't he be happy with the distance he'd put between him and Kluas? He asked him just that only for the man to pause in surprise. 

"You know, I saw you coming out of their room the other night." Ben said in leway of an answer. Dave froze in place, stomach squirming with anxiety. 

"I thought you were out visiting a friend." He said, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck raise. Did Ben know he had the grimoire? He hadn't had a chance to return it yet and he had a day left till the glamour on that clay wore off. 

"I was, but then I came home, just in time to see you sneaking out of Klaus' room like some kind of cat burglar." Ben's eyes narrowed, his shirt shifting with the extension of a tentacle. Dave had the smallest urge to take a step back, but the predator in him was still too proud to yield to a guy smaller than him. 

"What does that have to do with me and Klaus' fight?" He asked, his shoulders squaring and his back straightening up to add just a few more inches to his height. He didn't want to have to fight him, but Ben was treading far too close to the truth, and him deploying the monster in his gut wasn't making the prospects of that look any slimmer. 

"Whatever happened, you can spare me the details, but whatever happened clearly caused the issue between the two of you. Klaus cares about you and I know you care about them, as stupid as I think it is, I still like you a lot better than our last delivery boy and would rather keep you around." Ben looked like he'd sucked a lemon the entire time he admitted that, his face pinched and sour and Dave was once again completely thrown by the man. 

"Did...did you just admit you liked me?" Dave asked, cause beyond a normal employer and employee relationship, Dave was certain Ben hated his guts, but every now and again, he'd show him a softer side, just like that conversation they'd had in the pricent. 

"No, I said I like you better than the last delivery boy, I'm still on to you Dave, you're hiding something." A tentacle slithered out from under his shirt, looming in the air above him as if waiting to strike. Dave's eyes flashed, it took every fiber in him not to shift in answer to the threat Ben was posing himself as. 

"You're one to talk, why don't you tell me about that secret friend of yours?" He growled out, fingers clenching and flexing with the extension of his claws. 

Ben's mouth pursed, eyebrows raised in challenge. He wasn't going to answer, he was going to taunt Dave, cause at this point they were at an understanding. They both had secrets, they both knew neither of them were who they said they were and it was for the sake of Klaus and Cassie that they kept this information between the two of them. At least, for now. 

"Help! Help! The..the graveyard..Klaus is…" the front door jingled open, a pale luminescent figure stepping in along with the distressed wails of a crying Cassie in her arms. Both of their heads snapped in her direction, seeing a women dressed in a victorian era gown, she was translucent and glowed a pale blue. She stumbled forward and shoved Cassie into the first pair of arms to reach out to her. As soon as Cassie was in Dave's hands, the woman began to dim and flicker, her echoey voice cutting in and out like a bad reception on a cell phone. 

"Klaus...grave…….graveyard... attacked...shed...knife...help them." She blinked out once more and never came back, but she had said enough for Dave and Ben to get the gist. 

"Klaus went to visit Josie's grave with Cassie earlier, that guy must have followed them there." Ben supplied, face openly worried with the admission. 

Dave went wide eyed, why the hell would Klaus leave with Cassie alone when they knew that psycho was still out there?

"Damit! Watch her, I'm going after them!" Dave passed Cassie over to Ben, not waiting a moment before he was racing out the door, his clothes falling off of him in ripped tatters and the world glossing over in a hue of orange, as he shifted right there on the sidewalk, running at full speed on four legs towards the graveyard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Definitely feel like I revealed some stuff I was saving for later chapters, but that's just the direction the story is going, really want to know if anyone's put the puzzle pieces together. I would love to hear your thoughts and constructive criticism.


	9. Beware the black dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to the cemetery ends in blood when Cassie's deranged father follows Kluas there.
> 
> Trigger warning for blood and violence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, big reveal chapter, some of you got close but just barely missed the mark. 
> 
> I try and edit my stuff as best I can, so sorry in advanced for any missed spelling or grammer errors.

Should Klaus have left the house when they did? Probably not. Did they absolutely need to bring Cassie with them? That was also most likely a no, but to be fair they were visiting her mother's grave and they had called Luther to accompany them so they weren't being nearly as stupid as they would have been, sans baby. So things really shouldn't have turned out the way they did.

~3 hours earlier~

Klaus...Klaus wasn't doing so great. They could hardly stay in the same room as Dave without feeling utterly heartbroken. They understood in the end, Dave was right, he wasn't Cassie's dad and he had no obligation to be, but it didn't keep them from being confused as fuck. Dave was always so willing to help out with her and the way he treated the two of them….it just felt like he was familiar with the role he was slowly settling into in their lives. 

"So excuse the fuck out of me for ASSUMING he was planning to stick around for us!" Klaus angrily blinked back on coming tears, shoving a spoonful of rockycrossroads into their mouth, while a messy Cassie still worked on her own tiny bowl of the stuff. -"I mean, if you just saw the way he was holding me last night, you would totally agree, so like, was it about the sex after all and now he's just mad he couldn't get it. If he had given me a little more time I'm sure I would have been ready." 

"Da!" Cassie calls out, giving up on eating her ice cream and proceeding to stab her tiny plastic spoon into it instead. 

Klaus heaves a forlorn sigh, they've definitely had better girls to have boy talk with, but they had to make do for now until Allison got back from Paris. "Yes Cassie, we're talking about Dave and how he's a shitty no good mix single giving dog, now keep up." 

"Da da!" She squealed back in answer. Klaus immediately freezes in place, their stomach dropping in dread. 

"Moppy! Da da!" Cassie continued. 

"Nooooooo, no don't call him that. Just one da Cassie, you only call him by one da!" Klaus had set their ice cream down and was now frantically pacing the kitchen while Cassie continued to smear her own serving of it all across her high chair tray and hands. 

"Moppy, dada!" She yelled, her pronunciation getting better and Klaus was going to fucking lose it. Where did she learn that? It wasn't just a baby way of saying Dave right? Klaus couldn't tell, but they knew Dave couldn't hear it, cause if he did, he'd….he'd leave. He didn't want to be Cassie's dad, he made that very clear yesterday...but Klaus didn't want to scare him off already, not so soon. 

Klaus shook their head, they wouldn't let that happen. They rushed over and scooped Cassie out of her highchair, "Okay, sticky, we're getting out of here, come on let's go visit mommy." 

They quickly cleaned Cassie with a baby wipe, then buttoned her up in the fluffiest onesie and coat she owned. They were just getting her strapped into her pink wrap when it finally dawned on them that there was a dangerous, deranged father on the loose just outside the barrier. Lucifer, they never felt so trapped. Why did they have to be scared just to leave their own home? It wasn't right. "Shit, what do I do now. Asking Dave to accompany us is certainly out of the question." 

"Dada?" Cassie cooed, clearly having found a new favorite word. 

Klaus grimaced, any other time their heart would be exploding from the cuteness, but under recent circumstances it just made them want to cry.-"Stop that, or I'm never giving you ice cream again."-they hissed, pulling out their phone and dialing the one person they could depend on in this situation. 

"Hay Luther, wanna picnic with me and Cassie?"..... "Like right now, at the graveyard, also you're bringing the picnic."......."Knew I could count on you, I'll see you there big bro." Klaus hung up, a weight lifted off their shoulders and beyond glad they were actually getting out of the house. 

"Let's go see mommy with uncle Luther baby. Can you say uncle Luther?!" Klaus grinned, bouncing Cassie up and down. 

"Lulu!" She echoed back. Klaus couldn't help but throw their head back and laugh. She was getting so good with her English, they'd have to start teaching her german soon. 

"Oh I like that one! You're so smart mausezähnchen!" 

Luckily for Klaus, Dave was out on another delivery when they walked down the stairs, less luckily, Ben was down there organizing their stock of pixie dust on the selves. His back was turned, so Klaus was certain they could successfully sneak by if they stayed quiet enough. 

"Be boo!" Cassie announced, flapping her hand excitedly in his direction. 

"Hello to you too, Cassie.", Klaus could hear the fondness in his voice as he shook his head in exasperation, slowly turning around from his task.

"Where do you think you're going." He asked dryly, assessing their attire and Cassie firmly strapped to their chest. 

Klaus groaned, feeling like a teenager with an overprotective father.- "To get high."-they drawled sarcastically, expecting at least an eye roll from Ben. 

"Fine, but you're not taking the baby." He said instead, making a move to grab Cassie from them, but Klaus was quick to side step his advances. 

"Okay, first of all, fuck you I was being sarcastic, and second, I'm actually going to the graveyard for a picnic." They corrected, voice filled with full offense. 

"You nearly relapsed two and a half weeks ago, so sorry if I skipped to plausible conclusions and also, I think you're forgetting about the crazy knife wielding stalker out for you and your kid, so again, if you're leaving, give me the baby." Ben advanced again, and Klaus easily floated out of his reach, sitting cross legged in the air above him. 

"I know that, Ben and I've taken precautions, I called Luther and he said he would meet us there, plus it's still broad daylight out, who's going to do a crime at this hour?" 

Ben still didn't look pleased, but he nodded his head non the less. "Fine, text me when you get there and be back before sun down." 

Klaus grinned, happy that they were finally getting out of the house since this whole stalker mess started. "Promise to keep my glass slippers on while I'm at it." 

_________________________________

Walking into the graveyard, Klaus could already feel the hair on the back of their neck stand on end. Of course they've been followed, they felt it from the moment they left the shop, the only reason they kept going was cause the sun was still up and they knew they were meeting Luther here and you had to be a special kind of stupid to try anything around a werewolf Luther's size. Slowly, they made their way to Josie's grave and laid down the fluffy black blanket they had brought with them, taking a seat and paying the tingling sensation of being watched no mind. They were okay, Luther would be here soon and that phyco wasn't going to approach them with all these people around.

They waited twenty minutes, passing the time talking to Josie's grave and telling Cassie stories of her mother. By minute thirty they shot Luther a text. By minute forty they gave him a call. Minute forty five they sent him five texts and left him three voicemails. Around the one hour mark, they could see the sun was starting to set and people were already heading home. Klaus was quick to follow suit, hurriedly folding up their blanket and getting Cassie strapped back into her wrap, they stood and turned around, immediately bumping into the solid figure of a hooded man, stunned into stillness at the feeling of something sharp pressing dangerously into their side. 

"Hand over my child and all your organs will stay perfectly safe inside of you where they belong." A gruff voice remarked lowely. Klaus swallowed, they were instantly thrust into fight or flight, warring between self preservation and the safety of their child. A year ago, Klaus would have given a crazy fucker like this whatever he wanted to save their own hind end, but right now, with Cassie clutched close, her little heart beating erratically as she listened in on their own going wild in their chest, they knew it was do or die and Klaus wasn't going down without a fight.

"One, two-" Klaus counted quietly under their breath, eyes hard as they looked their assailant head on. 

"What, what are you doing?" The man asked, pressing the knife harder into their side. 

"Giving you until the count of three to get that fucking knife away from me and my child." They ground out, watching as the man faltered the slightest bit at Klaus' lack of fear. They were scared certainly, but only for Cassie's well being, you couldn't threaten a necromancer with death when they had such an intimate relationship with it. 

There was silence, the two of them in a wordless stand off as a gust of wind blew through and pushed the man's hood down. He was….not that bad looking, if Klaus' didn't already know he was a deranged lunatic, then they'd definitely be down to buy this guy a drink if they ever saw him in a bar. He had a five o'clock shadow of black stubble along his face and chin, pale blue eyes and long shoulder length black hair that definitely needed a good shampoo. His skin was a leathery red with two stubs of ivory horns extending from his forehead. Klaus wanted to ask him when those started to grow and if they should expect Cassie to have them somewhere down the line. 

The man's eyes narrowed, a twisted grin spreading across his face.-"Three."- he uttered, his hand shoving forward. 

Klaus' eyes bugged out of their head, feeling the cold rush of adrenaline as the blade breached their body. They didn't know why, but they really did think the man was bluffing. They stumbled back, growing woozy with the amount of blood exiting their body. Man, getting stabbed with an actual knife was nothing like a heroin needle. A loopy giggle burst out of their lips as they crumpled down to the grass, one hand holding their seeping wound and the other clutching onto Cassie. They watched in blurry vision as the man loomed over them, crouching down and pulling Cassie out of the wrap, she screeched and screamed, thrashing and crying as the stranger took hold of her. They felt like they were on the verge of blacking out, a cacophony of 'no, no, nononononono' blaring on repeat in their mind as they watched the man turn to walk away.

"Okay, intimidation tactics not the best move" It was a dumb move actually, definitely one of Klaus' dumbest by far.-"Alright fucker, plan B"- They closed their eyes, doing what they should have done from the start. The tips of their fingers tingled and burned, the sensation flowing up to the palms of their hands and through their arms until their whole body was engulfed with it. They didn't have time for an incantation, so this was going to drain the fuck out of them and especially on the level they planned to execute it. Klaus grit their teeth, feeling the temperature of the entire graveyard plummet, their breath coming out in puffs of white vapor. The ground underneath them thrummed and vibrated and Klaus could tell they weren't the only one able to feel it. The man and everyone else in the graveyard all stopped, their heads cocked at an angle as if trying to gauge where the sudden cold front and buzzing of the ground was coming from. 

A lazy grin spread across their lips, this was their favorite part, the eerie calm before the storm. The doorbell before the doors of hell opened up and the monsters behind it greeted you with a roar. 

"Alright friends, who's ready to wake up?" Klaus scrunched their hand into the dirt beneath them, hearing the chorus of 'me, me, me!' singing out from the spirits residing there. Klaus hummed their acknowledgement, with one last push they sent out a pulse into the earth, the ground rumbling to life in answer and just like that, one by one, bodies raised from their graves, scratching and clawing back to the surface, while souls manifested in droves around them. The cemetery erupted into chaos, everyone who hadn't already left yet, were now screaming their heads off and stampeding out of the gates at once. They were bound to get a citation for this particular mass summoning, it wouldn't be the first time though and they could at least legitimately claim self-defense in this case.

Klaus grimaced, leaning themself up against Josie headstone and struggling to get to their feet. The man was still there, frozen in fear in front of them with Cassie crying and squirming about in his arms. Klaus quirked a smile, their knees threatening to buckle as they steadied themself on their feet, hand still clutching the open wound just beneath their kidney. It was deathly silent, all of the undead in the park standing static and awaiting next command. -"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!"- they bellowed in a war cry, the creatures behind them echoing back in tandem, practically shaking the earth with the frequency of it. It was the whole graveyard, all of it out of the ground and at Klaus' command. 

The man flinched violently, flailing and stumbling onto his ass and subsequently tossing Cassie into the air with it. Klaus' heart stopped, their hand flinging out on reflex and stopping Cassie in the air before she hit the ground. They tasted the metallic tang in the back of their throat as a trickle of blood dripped from their nose. They had a great deal of abilities at their disposal, but never had they needed to multitask with them and not at this level, maybe it was their history of drug abuse or just the stab wound, Kluas didn't know, but this shit hurt more than anything they felt in their life, they couldn't let go though, not yet, not till Cassie was safe. 

"You're messing with the wrong person motherfucker!" Klaus yelled, straining to pull Cassie back to them, not missing the man's quick jump back to his feet to intercept her before they could. They coughed, a splatter of blood flying out and down their chin as they put the spirits in action, a group of them grabbing the man and forcing him back to the ground while one reached up and plucked Cassie out of the air. 

"Take her back to the shop and go get help!" They ordered, the spirit looking at them with wide eyes. 

"It's a fifteen minute walk." She said. 

Klaus scoffed, they knew that, they fucking knew that and it didn't matter."then run, I don't care, I'll keep you corpal for however long it takes!" 

The spirit still stood there, dumbstruck. 

"Go!" Klaus yelled, eyeing the man thrashing and fighting against the phantoms holding him down. She jumped and quickly turned around, rushing out of the graveyard and towards the shop. 'thank you' Klaus spoke in their mind, hearing a fuzzy response back telling them to stay strong and that she wasn't going to stop till the child was safe. Their eyebrows crinkled minutely, that was new, but they'd have to examine that later, right now they had to keep the basket case subdued and not die in the process. 

Their chest rattled with another cough, tasting the blood washing over their tongue as they pushed themself just a little further past their limits. Minutes and minutes passed by, the man having given up and gone limp under his restraints. Klaus could feel the crisp bite of the night air as the moon shone bright in the sky above them. They don't know how long it's been, they don't know if Cassie made it back to the shop yet, but they had a feeling that something would tell them when she did. 

"Aren't you tired?" The man called from his spot, sprawled out and subdued on the grass. 

Klaus was fading in and out of coherency, only able to utter an ineloquent -"huh!?"-in response. 

The man scoffed, as if Klaus was playing dumb. Klaus wasn't, they've just lost a whole lot of blood. 

"Tired of being a fucking kidnapper! You took my child and you're going to all these lengths to keep her away from me!" He screamed, smacking his fists against the grass. 

Klaus huffed, how did this guy expect to raise a kid when he acted like one himself? "Because I'm her godparent and guardian and you're an absentee psycho of a father that stabbed me!" 

"It's….it's not my fault...I..I was locked away before she was born." The man's voice went soft, wavering wetly like he was about to cry. Klaus on their part was wondering who in the fuck let this guy out of prison. -"but I got out and took care of the fucker that put me there, I'm here now and we can be a family just like I promised Josie!" -he was back to harsh and angry, squirming and swiping at the phantoms on top of him, all of his attacks going right through them. 

Klaus frowned at that, the puzzle pieces slowly coming together and giving them the inclination that this man was way out of the loop and boy was that fucked up if he was.- "You can't."- they said simply, the man pausing in confusion.

"What the fuck do you mean?" He asked a beat later, his voice dark and grave, daring Klaus to say anymore. 

Klaus felt tears well up in their eyes, a lump growing in their throat cause they were going to have to tell the story again. "You can't be a family with Josie and Cassie." 

The man growled, smacking his fists on the ground once more. "I will, as soon as I get rid of you!" 

"Listen to me! You can't be a family, cause Josie's dead!" Klaus boomed, the man going deathly silent a second time. Klaus continued on. "Almost a month ago, Josie was murdered by the jealous girlfriend of a man that lent her his home for the night, her spirit sought my help to retrieve Cassie from the crime scene, I later found out she made me Cassie's godparent, the day before that." 

"You're lying!" He wailed, close to hysterics, tears pouring down his face. 

Klaus shook their head, "I'm not, I'm standing above her grave as we speak."-just as they said that, they got the fuzzy message that Cassie was safe and Dave was on his way. Klaus took a deep breath and finally let go, the spirits vanishing and the zombies falling limp back into their graves. The man was up on his feet in seconds, rushing and pushing Klaus out of the way to peer down at the headstone. 

"Josie Price, mother, friend, and a sister to many" he read aloud, the words quickly followed by a gut wrenching sob. He was a deranged lunatic that stabbed them, but Klaus, really did feel bad for the guy. 

"I'm sorry." They offered their condolences, only for the man to turn wild eyed back at them, his arm shooting out and grabbing Klaus by the throat. 

"Bring her back." He demanded, his hand tightening just a little more. Klaus gasped and wheezed as their air supply was steadily cutting off. Even if they weren't slowly bleeding out on the grave of one of their best friend's, they didn't think they could make a sex joke if they tried, cause as little as the prospect of death scared them, this man... definitely, definitely did. 

"I….can't." they squeaked out, their vision fading around the edges. 

"Do it or I'll kill you!" He shoved Klaus the rest of the way down, coming to straddle their hips as his other hand came to join the other around their neck. Klaus tried to claw and pull him off, but they just didn't have the energy to fight him off, all of it had been used up getting Cassie to safety. 

"Go ahead….and…..t-try." They rasped out one last time, feeling themself fall back into the still waters of oblivion, it was somewhat familiar, like they've been to this place before. Klaus was so close to reaching out and embracing it with open arms, but then a thunderous roar echoed out from the front gates of the graveyard. Blearily, Klaus watched as a single red orange orb illuminated in the distance.  
They wondered for a moment what it was and where they might have seen it before. The orb disappeared for a split second and it dawned on Klaus that it had blinked.- "An eye."-They concluded daftly, a loopy giggle erupting from their constricted airways. Before they knew it a blur of black rushed the man on top of them. The animal snagging him in it's mouth, picking him up and flinging him meters into the air and repeating the action as soon as he hit the ground. Kalus could hear the crunch and snap of bones breaking, the man's screams of terror and pain quickly going silent by the third collision with the earth and even then the creature didn't stop. They watched on in awe, the animal moved like it was made of smoke, whisps of inky black flickering around it like a fire. It was definitely k9 in nature, it's size rivaling that of Luther in his fully shifted form. They could even see the spirits around them cower away in its presence. Klaus knew what this was, never having met one in real life, but having always felt a kinship to the species, the both of them having close ties to death and the dead, they just hadn't known they were shifters. 

"Dave." Klaus croaked out, the animal's head immediately snapping to them in answer. -"you got him Dave, it's done, it's over." 

The creature let out a low wounded whine, slowly coming over to bump it's nose against Klaus' shoulder, it's head bigger than their torso. It huffed and sniffed, smelling the blood from Klaus' wound. In a blink, Dave was back to his human form, his hands shaking and touching all over Klaus for the injury, spotting the place they were holding onto and removing their hand to put his own firmmer pressure onto it. 

"Hay...handsome." Klaus chuckled, tickled by the fact that this was the situation that they got to see Dave naked in for the first time. 

"Klaus, this is no time for jokes." Dave admonished, his voice wavering nervously. 

Klaus took in a shuddering breath, cracking a slow smile as their eyes drooped close "I'm not...joking…...you are…...handsome." 

"Klaus, hay Klaus, keep your eyes open, stay with me!" 

Klaus could hear Dave yelling for them to stay awake, but it was like listening to the echo of someone on the other side of a tunnel and that person was getting further and further away. Their eyes peeled open one last time, seeing tears streaming down Dave's face, and Klaus wanted to tell him not to cry, they weren't worth crying for, but the words were too heavy for their tongue. 

When they awoke next, it was to the black sterile walls of a hospital room, a monotonous beep, beep of the heart monitor filling the stale silence of the space. With a groan they stretched their limbs out, feeling them immediately protest in a burst of soreness and pain. -"Shit!"- They hissed, flopping back down on the bed. Sadly, this felt all too familiar, they couldn't count the number of times they've woken up just like this after a particularly good rager or even an overdose. "At least I'm not dead." 

"Yeah, but you got really fucking close Klaus!" 

Klaus startled, their head snapping to the open door and the figure standing in front of it. "Dave!" 

Dave stridded in, his arms folded and his face a hard angry mask. -"Never do that again, Klaus."-he spoke vehemently. 

"What, protect my child!?" Klaus shot back, not liking the treatment they were getting post near death experience. 

"No, scare me, Klaus! Never scare me like that again!" He growled, his face braking and showing the raw hurt underneath. Klaus was at a loss for words, they didn't mean for things to happen like they did and didn't Dave know, they were scared too. 

"What does it matter to you?" They muttered under their breath, not expecting Dave to have heard it, but then again, he was a supernatural creature, Klaus had seen upclose proof of it last night. 

"Why wouldn't it matter to me, Kluas?" He asked back, definitely sounding just as hurt as his face had shown. 

Klaus shrugged, their arms folded defensively as they blinked back tears. "Cause you said you wouldn't stay, I just don't know if you really care or not." 

Slowly Dave came to sit at the edge of the bed, his hands laid awkwardly in his lap. "Klaus, I do care, it's just…. complicated." 

They grit their teeth, cause that didn't sound like an explanation,"then explain it to me, cause I'm starting to get tired of this complicated thing between us." 

"Klaus, please." Dave huffed, sounding truthfully put out by that and Klaus wasn't having it. 

"No, Dave, if you're not going to be here for Cassie and me, after all you've done, we at least deserve an answer! Why don't you want to stay, why don't you want us!" Klaus screamed, the real reason behind their hurt finally coming out and Klaus supposed that's what you got when growing up in the foster system, a lifelong fear of abandonment. But Dave didn't know that, Dave didn't even know a fraction of Klaus' past and they guessed that made them selfish, asking for Dave to stay when he had no idea what he was getting into. 

"Because I'm scared to be a father again!" He shouted back, eyes glassy with oncoming tears .

Klaus felt the breath punch out of them.-"Again?" -They whispered, confused but morbidly curious at the same time.

Dave nodded silently in answer, taking a minute to breathe and gather his bearings before he spoke again. "I had a wife and child...years ago." 

Klaus was stunned, It seemed like things went both ways then, they had no idea who Dave was either, but they were willing to learn if he was too. "What..what happened to them." 

Dave clinched his eyes shut, his breath coming out in quick short huffs through his nose, Klaus was quick to reach out and tangle their hands together, silently telling Dave to take however much time he needed. 

"They were killed in a freak accident, I never had a chance to say goodbye and I just don't know if I can go through that pain again, Klaus." Dave breathed in a shuddering breath, his free hand coming to wipe at his eyes and Klaus couldn't help the way their heart squeezed painfully in their chest. They got it, they understood now. This whole time Dave was hiding this deep well of pain and yet he managed to be such a good, dependable guy, coming through for Klaus and Cassie everytime. Life wasn't fair, Dave was an amazing person that didn't deserve that kind of hurt hanging over him. 

"Dave….I honestly don't know what I would do if I lost my family, hell, I almost lost Cassie last night and I've never been so scared in my life."-they ran a hand through their hair, scrunching the strands between their fingers and took in deep breath, cause just talking about it was giving them heart palpitations, -"I...can't ask you to be anything more for me and Cassie than what you already are and if at some point you want to leave, I know I can't force you to stay, no matter how much I would love it if you did, but I want you to know, that moving on and finding happiness again doesn't erase the love you had for your family. Believe me, I talk to the dead all the time and they're always telling us living folks to move and be happy." 

Dave sniffed and nodded,"I want to." 

"Then what's stopping you?" Klaus asked sincerely, gripping his hand just a fraction tighter. -"Dave, I'm not asking anymore from you then that you keep doing what you're already doing and be a part of our lives, cause believe it or not, you're already family to me." 

He snorted at that, "don't think I've ever made out with my family before." 

"Hay pal, you said it was complicated first." Klaus shot back, a cheeky grin plastered on their face. 

Dave stared at them, his own little smile spread across his lips as he brought his hand up to ruffle Klaus' mess of curls, before it slowly came down to cup their cheek, he leaned in to press a chaste kiss to their lips. -"Touchè"- he whispered, pulling back and pressing their foreheads together. 

"So, Black Shuck huh?" Klaus asked a moment later, giggling in glee as Dave sat up with a groan. 

"I didn't know you guys had human forms."

Dave huffed, shrugging his shoulders in a faux nonchalant getsure. "We can, if we choose to. My species is fairly split between those of us who prefer to live out our lives in dog form and those who want to live a more human experience and if we do, the rules of when we choose to shift back are pretty strict." 

"What, but you shifted your whole face for me for shits and giggles just the other day?" Klaus laughed, loving the crimson blush blooming on Dave's face.

"Yeah, that was like a big no no in my culture, and what I did yesterday was an even bigger no no." Dave scrubbed a hand over his face, knowing if he were in his home village, he'd had been hung for his transgressions and he told Klaus as much.

To which they cackled in response, their head thrown back as they clapped their hands in amusement. "Well good thing you're in a good modern town like ours." 

Dave shook his head, trying and failing to fight off the smirk twitching to life on his lips. Klaus almost died last night, Dave had to resuscitate them with mouth to mouth and chest compressions until the paramedics arrived and yet here Klaus was, grinning and laughing like they hadn't been on death's door just hours ago. It honestly weirded him out, cause Klaus might be magically endowed, but they were still human, and he knew Ben had told him how quick Klaus was to bounce back, but he honestly hadn't expected just how quick that truly was. Resilience like this was….. practically supernatural. 

Dave was about to make a comment hinting at his observation when the sound of a throat clearing stopped him before he could. Both of their heads looked up at the same time, to the man in the doorway. 

"Diego!" Klaus called, smiling like this was some sort of surprise party for them.-"let me guess, the whole family is here." 

Diego walked in, nodding his head in answer. "They are, Luther won't stop apologizing and Ben already gave him an ear full to last into next year. Allison's still in Paris, but promises to call you as soon as you're discharged." 

Klaus nodded, their eyes shifting down to the objects in Diego's hands, a flash of hurt flickering across their face before it was quickly covered up with another boisterous grin, "Ooh, I can see you brought your little pen and notepad, gotta say Diego I would have preferred flowers or even a teddy bear." 

Diego chuckled, rolling his eyes and pulling up a chair to sit on it backwards. "Sorry Klaus, you'll get those later, but I gotta do my job first and take your statement, Dave, do you mind?" 

Dave was quick to stand, telling Diego it was no problem at all and heading out the door, waving goodbye to Klaus as he went. 

"Was it true?" 

Dave was barely entering the hallway when he stopped in his tracks just outside the door. He didn't need to turn his head to know who it was leaned up against the adjacent wall. His fists clenched, the prick of claws making tiny punctures in the palms of his hand that would heal over only to repuncture again. "I wouldn't lie about something like that." 

"But you lied about everything else." Ben smoothly countered. 

"Not everything." He shot back, struggling to get a grip on his steadily rising temper. Ben was goading him on purpose, it wasn't worth it to fight him, not here, not now. 

"So you admit you're lying about something." 

His heart flipped in his chest, Ben didn't need a drastic reaction to get something out of him, he'd walked right into it himself. He didn't know what else to say, anything could be used and twisted against him, so he bit his tongue and kept quiet. 

Ben was equally as silent, a triumphant smirk on his lips as he critically thought out his next move. Dave felt shivers zing up his spine, never having felt so small under someone's gaze as he did now. -"Thank you for saving Klaus, and if it's any consolation, I really am sorry for your loss, but don't think for a moment that I don't already know there's more to it."- he smiled and clapped him on the back, eyes narrowed knowingly as he walked past him and straight into the room where Diego was still taking Klaus' statement. He had to take a few moments to steady his breathing, the urge to punch his fist through the wall overcoming him like one giant tsunami wave of rage. What did Ben know and why did it feel he knew way more than he should? 

"Ben, we're busy, not right now." Diego groaned from inside the room, breaking him out of his downward spiral. He sighed out a deep breath, cause right, Klaus, hospital, now just wasn't the time. 

"Ben, Ben, Ben, please I don't want a lecture right now, look at me I'm still Injured!" Klaus begged, voice getting higher as Ben's looming presence no doubt got closer.

"Zip it, you almost died for the billionth time, your getting a fucking lecture!" Ben boomed, and Dave had enough self preservation to take a little stroll down to the cafeteria. 

"Hay, bro wait up!" 

Dave stopped again, turning around just in time to see Diego jogging after him. 

"You heading to the cafeteria?", He asked, catching up and falling into step next to him. He nodded which earned him a bright grin in return from the man and Dave had the fleeting thought that a fondness for simple pleasures must run in the family. "Sweet, I could go for a jello cup right now." 

"What about your statement?" He asked. 

Diego shrugged, "I got enough for now and I could always come back later, I know better than to get between Ben and a well meaning lecture." 

Dave nodded, a little relieved that he wasn't the only one a tiny bit scared of Ben. A comfortable silence fell between them as they made their way towards the cafeteria, grabbing an assortment of vending machine snacks and jello cups that they tucked into at the lunch tables. 

"So, are you and Klaus fucking?" Diego asked around a mouth full of his second jello cup. Dave nearly choked and had to chase his bite of granola bar down with a couple healthy swigs from his water bottle.

"I...it's...it's complicated." He finally got out, gradually starting to hate the word at this point. He guessed he agreed with Klaus and was also a bit tired of the complicated thing between them. He wanted more than anything to put a word to what they were, but there was honestly nothing to fit it and at some point, he guessed nothing was exactly what they would be. 

Diego nodded his head empathically. "Got cha, I totally get it, bro. I met this chick Lila a couple months ago, not my usual type, but man is she a beast in the sheets-" 

"Diego." Dave cut him off, finding the sudden topic in conversation a bit strange and out of the blue. 

Diego stopped, his face immediately sobering up to something a little more worn and weary. It didn't comfort Dave at all as he realized what Diego had been trying to do. 

"I was attempting to lighten the mood for a little bit before i told you, everyone else knows already...well besides Klaus, we're going to wait till they're discharged for that." 

Dave grit his teeth, he was hoping it wasn't what he thought it was. He'd be royally pissed if it was, he'd seen the cops arrive with the paramedics and he had made sure that guy was good as dead didn't he? Was that it? Did he actually kill him and now he was being detained? 

"His name is Zapheriah Philp, thirty four years old and last seen entering the home of his childhood friend a little over a year ago today, until last night that is, when witness reports all described him in perfect detail following Klaus and Cassie to the graveyard." 

Dave nodded his head for Diego to continue, already putting it together that this was Cassie's dad he was talking about. 

"He's currently wanted for more than just stalking and Klaus' attempted murder and Cassie's attempted kidnapping, he's also the prime suspect for the case i've been working on." Dave felt all the air rush out of his lungs, he knew this guy was dangerous, he had seen what he did to Klaus, but knowing he was behind the gruesome live gutting of another person….it made him gag, literally gag just thinking about it, cause that could have been Klaus. If he was even a second late, he would have been picking Klaus up piece by piece. 

"There's one more thing." Diego spoke again, his hands anxiously clenching and unclenching on the table top, all the body language Dave needed, to know that whatever it was he had to say, it wasn't good. 

"He's dead right? I killed him, right? I flung that fucker around like a fucking rag doll! Tell me you scooped his corps off the ground and threw it in a fucking furnace!" His temper was back to a steady climb, clawed fingers making distinct lines through the paint of the lunch table. 

Diego stayed silent, his teeth grinding as he sat in a tense line at the table.-"I gave chase"-he grit out, his face a hard mask that just barely covered the disappointment hidden behind it. 

"No, no, he got away?" Dave breathed out in utter disbelief. He couldn't believe this, Dave had been adamant to break every bone in that fucker's body, he should not have been able to get up at all, let alone run. 

"I almost had him, but he used a cloaking spell." Diego defended, his face braking and his guilt showing in full. 

Dave took a deep breath in and slowly let it out, slumping into his seat and burying his face in his hands. "It doesn't matter how he got away, it's the fact that he's still out there at all." 

"It's okay Dave, if you fucked this guy up as badly as you said you did, then he's probably going to be laying low and licking his wounds for a good while and with the progress I've made on this case, I can easily track him down no problem."

Dave nodded, that..that made sense. Still didn't make the situation any better though.-"Klaus isn't going to be happy."- He stated simply, knowing full well that wasn't the half of it. 

Diego sighed,"that's a bridge I'm willing to cross when I come to it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts and constructive criticism always welcome.


	10. The last delivery boy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus still has one more night to go before they are discharged from the hospital, but while there, Dave feels as if things are amiss, with strange nurses and figures from his past making brief apperances. Weird only gets worse when Dave is confronted by Ben later that night, there's no escaping and the truth comes out from both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this update took some time, but I promise the story is not dead. THIS CHAPTER HAS SOME MAJOR TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR DESCRIPTIONS OF RAPE, RAPE AFTERMATH AND BLOOD, AS WELL AS TRANSPHOBIA AND TRANSPHOBIC LANGUAGE. It comes in, in the form of a flashback near the end of the chapter. I tried to keep it as minimally graphic as I could, but it could still be disturbing to some readers. I edit my work to the best of my ability, so apologies for any missed spelling or grammer errors.

It was three in the morning when he got the call, his phone chiming and buzzing to life just under his head where it was hidden beneath his pillow. He groaned, clicking his phone on and taking one look at the time and nearly flinging the damn thing into the wall, but then he glanced at the contact name and the smiling photo of one of the few people in this world he could stand.-"Josie, what's up?"-he spoke, going for casual, but his stomach bubbled up with nerves, cause Josie didn't call often. She prefered to text or to just drop by without notice if she truly needed something. 

"Zaph, I'm pregnant." Was her flat response, followed by a hysterical, humorless chuckle that had ice zinging down his spine. He practically fumbled his phone, catching it before it could drop, then holding it a little firmer against his ear as he sat up straighter in bed. 

"Is...is it mine?" He asked hesitantly, his heart beating a mile a minute in his chest. 

"Why would I call you if you weren't the fucking father, Zaph!" Josie barked down the line and he could just picture the seething glimmer in her eyes that she always got when he was being particularly stupid; he couldn't fight off the happy little smirk that thought brought him. 

"Oh lucifer, I'm going to be a dad." He breathed out, surprised at how okay he was with that. His own father had been a foul, drunkard piece of shit, that had tossed him and his mother around for years, and he wasn't exactly in the best position to raise a child, but if there was one law imps lived by, it was that they never abandoned their young, absolutely no one got left behind. 

"Zaph, I...I can't be a mother, I'm not ready, I mean for lucifer sakes, I did a line last night before I even took the damn test, I gotta abort it, cause I'm just going to end up killing it anyways." Josie cried, clearly distressed and probably cutting it close to withdrawal if that line was the last drug she's done thus far. 

His gut churned, dread filling every fiber of his being.-"No!"-he yelled, throwing his covers off and jumping out of bed.-"Josie, don't, cause if you do, I swear to lucifer I don't know what I'd do, but it won't be pretty!" 

"Zaph, what do you want me to do, we can't be parents, I'm a drug addict, you're a drug dealer! That's how we fucking met and this whole mess started! I'm not making the same mistake as my mother and bringing a child I can't raise into this world, I'll just fuck it up, like my parents did me!"-Josie was in hysterics, probably reliving a number of childhood traumas that had led her down this path in life. 

"Shut up!"-he yelled, tears welling up in his eyes and he was glad Josie wasn't able to see them. He hated when she got like this, hated how vocal she was about how much she hated herself.-"Don't say that, our child is not a mistake and neither are you."-he continued on a quieter note as soon as Josie went silent on the other side of the line.-"listen to me, you're not the only one who's had a fucked up childhood, my dad was a violent scumbag from the moment I was born, but guess what Josie? We're not our parents, we can be better than them, we can get clean and get real jobs and we...we can be a family." 

"Zaph, you're not actually willing to-"

"I'm more than willing, I'll do it for you and our child, if you stop the drugs I will too, my entire business and all my connections, I'll cut them no questions asked, I'll even tell Leonard as soon as the sun's up." He spoke vehemently, almost giddy with all the promises he was giving Josie, but they were promises he was determined to keep, cause there was no one, not a single person in the entire world he would do this for. 

"Zaph, that's...but why?" She finally spoke, wonder and awe coloring her voice. She never thought someone would be willing to do so much for her. 

"Cause….I love you Josie, I've loved you from the beginning and I'd do anything for you, for our family." 

Josie gasped on the other side of the line, her eyes pouring over with tears once more, but for an entirely different reason now. When she first called Zaph, she had been terrified, but now, for the first time in a very long while, she felt safe, cause she believed Zaph, she trusted that he was going to take care of her and their child.

"Yeah, okay, I can do this, we can do this." She chuckled wetly, stomach squirming with butterflies, cause she was excited now, excited to try and be everything her mother couldn't be for her. 

"Really?" Zaph asked, giant grin plastered on his face, he didn't even care that Josie hadn't said if she loved him back, he could wait on that, he just needed to be sure that they both agreed to keep the baby.

"Yes, Zaph, I wanna raise this kid with you." She laughed, already knowing she couldn't have a better father for her child. 

"Thank you, thank you so much Josie, I'm going to call Leonard right now and by the next time you see me, I'll be completely through with the drugs, I'm going to be a better man for you." He swore, heart racing and cheeks hurting with the size of the smile splitting his face, none the wiser that, that would be the last thing he ever told Josie, an overzealous promise he couldn't keep in the end.   
__________________________________

Everything hurt, lucifer everything hurt so bad. He had no fucking idea what that fucking thing was, but he'd be prepared for it next time, even if the mere thought of facing the beast again sent his stomach in a roil of anxiety. Limping up to his motel room, he nearly got the key into the lock when the door swung open, sending him collapsing down onto the dirty carpet floor. 

"You don't look so good, boss." Hazel commented dryly, taking a healthy bite out of his tuna sandwich. 

"He's obviously injured you idiot, help him up!" Cha cha ordered, quickly standing from her chair and striding over to his crumpled form on the carpet. 

Zaph was quick to shoot his hand up stopping both of them in their tracks.-"No one. Help. Me. I'm fine, just stay out of my way!"- he pushed himself up, wobbling on his feet, but making the slow trek to the bathroom, ignoring both Hazel and Cha Cha's concerned glances as he went. 

Slamming and locking the door to the bathroom, he peeled himself out of his hoodie and pants, standing in nothing but his boxers in front of the mirror. It always freaked him out when he looked at himself like this. He was still skin and bones, he'd spent so much time inside that fucking prison, he hardly recognized his own reflection and now to learn that in that time, Josie had died? Not only did he miss the birth of his child, but the mother of his child was also killed. It angered him, it angered him to the extent of total insanity. Josie was the only woman he had ever loved enough to clean up his life for and become a better man, the only person he truly wanted to build a family with, and now she was gone and dead. Tears filled his eyes and blurred his vision, he scrunched an angry hand into his oily strands of black hair as he bit back a sob. It wasn't fair, he never had a chance to even say goodbye, to tell her it wasn't his choice to leave. She probably died thinking he'd abandoned them. He didn't, he would never, but that's what that bastard made her think. If he could kill him again he would, he'd gut that fucker a hundred times over for what he did. Cause if he hadn't locked him away in that stupid fucking crystal ball, then Josie would be alive and Cassie would be in their care and they'd be a family just like he'd promised. 

"Fuck!" He screamed, his fist going straight into the bathroom mirror, the glass shattering and slicing deep cuts into his hand. He couldn't feel it, he couldn't feel a fucking thing anymore, everything hurt so much he was numb. -"FUCK!"- smashed his head into the rest of it, blood seeping down his face and into his eyes, mixing with his tears as it dropped into a puddle in the sink. He hardly noticed as the locked door was broken open and he was quickly enveloped in the arms of Cha Cha and Hazel, simultaneously comfortingly him and holding him back from anymore self harm-"Fuck, why!? Josie! Josie?"-his hoarse screams of anger petered out into soft heart wrenching whimpers. He never got to say goodbye. He never got to say goodbye.   
_________________________________

"Where's my baby, I haven't seen her all morning, where's my mausezähnchen?" Klaus whined, making grabby hands into the open air as if she would automatically materialize like the ghosts they were used to manifesting. Ben rolled his eyes, but pulled out his phone to shoot off a quick text. 

"We put Five on baby duty, be warned, he's not too happy about it and what he calls your flagrant disregard to his hard work, making you that barrier." 

They slumped back into the bed, arms folded petulantly, "how many fucking lectures am I going to get today?"-then a beat later, voice soft and hesitant as they peeked over at their brother-"hay, um..when you got Cassie, she was okay right?"

Ben looked up from his phone, stomach squirming with more than just the monsters he housed in it. "Yeah, Cassie was alright, shaken up and a little chilly when I got her, but she calmed down and warmed up no problem." 

Klaus sighed a deep breath in relief. They'd been worried about her since they'd woken up, but after the whole thing with Dave and then Diego quickly followed by Ben, they just hadn't had a chance to ask till now. 

"So..Diego says you made zombies." Ben spoke up, breaking the silence that fell between them. 

Klaus groaned,-"oh, was that what those were?"-they asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. 

"Klaus, take this seriously, multiple people saw you make multiple zombies along with all those ghosts you manifested, do you have any idea what that means?" Ben groused, massaging his temples in his usual, 'i'm getting a Klaus related headache', way. 

Klaus blew a raspberry and shrugged, "that I'm a necromancer, gee, whatever shall I do if anyone finds out." 

Ben shook his head, leaning in close as he dropped his voice down to a whisper. "Klaus, zombies are a level two reanimation and to be able to do it on such a scale? What if it turned into a repeat of last time?" 

Klaus snapped their head in Ben's direction, their eyes hard. They didn't want to think about it, wanted more than anything to just leave it in the past and hope it had the decency to stay there, but even they knew that wasn't just nieve, but also foolish. The events of last night were already testimony enough that this just couldn't be forgotten. Nodding their head in defeat, they swallowed hard and lowered their eyes from Ben's, not wanting to see his face when they told him.-"I didn't even need an incantation."-they admitted quietly, heart rabbiting in their chest as they felt the heat of Ben's stare on them. Incantations were like recipes for a spell, everyone knew it was down right dangerous to just throw magic at the wall like that and hope for the best and for a complicated craft like necromancy, well, it should be near impossible. 

Ben shook his head, huffing out an exasperated breath,"that's not normal, Klaus." 

Klaus shrugged for a second time, "nothing is when it comes to us." 

"I changed three diapers, you shitheels!" 

Klaus and Ben jumped out of their skin, looking up at the sudden appearance of Five, the old man frowning as he held a giggling Cassie upside down by her ankle. 

"Woah, woah, woah, who taught you how to hold a baby!?" Klaus quickly reached up to grab hold of her before she slipped from Fives grip. 

"No one, which is precisely why I should have not been picked for baby duty." Five griped, shooting Ben a scathing look. 

Ben rolled his eyes, "You were the only person available, and you had her for like an hour." 

"An hour and forty-five minutes, I was this close to putting her in the lost and found if she shit herself one more time." Five shot back, pulling up a chair to sit beside Klaus' bed. 

Klaus gasped in outrage, holding Cassie close their chest in an effort to keep her safe from her apparently evil uncle. "Remind me to never ask you to babysit." 

"No need for a reminder, I'll always say no." Five replied succinctly, his smart ass smirk falling from his face and replacing with a shit eating grin that had Klaus' fight or flight response tingling. -"Oh yeah, I nearly forgot."

Klaus barely had a minute to respond before Five was reaching over and flicking them as hard as he could on their ear.- "Ow, the fuck is wrong with you, I'm already injured asshole!"-klaus screeched, rubbing vigorously at their smarting ear. 

"That's for being a dumbass and getting yourself injured in the first place, I went through all that work making that barrier, just for you to not use it. You are literally the only person I know that would willingly walk into impending doom out of pure stupidity and stupidity alone!" 

"Hay, it's not all my fault, okay? I thought Luther was going to meet us at the graveyard, but Mr flakey, flaked, like a fucking flake!" Klaus argued back. It was just barely noon and already they had been chewed out by a total of three people. They understood they had fucked up, again, but it was nothing new for them, they had been the designated family fuck up for a while now, so why was this becoming bigger of a deal then it had to be? 

"Is this a bad time?" A voice spoke from the doorway. They all turned to look at the nurse as he entered the room. 

"No, actually, it's a perfect time, these gentlemen here are giving me and my child hypertension and I request more morphine." Klaus spoke up, gesturing for the man to come closer. 

Ben and Five both frowned in unison as they got a better look at the guy. He was fairly tall and slender dressed in mismatched scrubs, the top a gaudy hot pink covered in hearts, that just barely covered the man's stomach and the pants a minty green that looked two sizes too big, but that wasn't the strangest thing, cause on the man's face, was the wildest bird's nest of a beard, that took up the majority of the man's face. Ben and Five exchanged matching looks, wrinkling their noses in distaste, cause there was no way that thing was real, at least they sure hoped it wasn't. Klaus didn't seem fazed by the man's appearance though, looking completely fine as he came closer to their bed. 

"Alright, so I'm your nurse, uh...nurse…. Leon, and I'm here to check some things and all that." The man spoke hesitantly, gesturing his hands in the air like that would make his words more convincing. It didn't and Ben was under the impression that this guy was high. 

"Are you really a nurse?" Five asked, teleporting into the man's personal space, staring up at him with a hard glare. 

Nurse Leon stumbled back a step, catching himself and quickly squaring up to Five. "Yes, I am a Nurse, now scram kid, before I call your mummy." 

"I'm Five hundred years old, do NOT, call me KID!" Five ground out, roughly grabbing the man by the collar of his shirt. Both Ben and Klaus jolted, already knowing Five was a feral bastard on a good day, him already being in a bad mood just cemented the fact that if this guy pushed his buttons any further, blood would be shed. 

"Five, I'm giving you to the count of three to let the Nurse go." Ben warned, tentacle slithering out from under his shirt. Five took one glance at it, his teeth grinding in anger as looked back at Leon. 

"You can't do that, I'm not a fucking kid!" He growled out, hand tightening around the nurses shirt. 

"One." Ben started, a second tentacle coming to join the other. 

Five hesitated, eyes flickering between the nurse and the tentacels. He'd only been on the receiving end of Ben's discipline a handful of times, he hated to admit it, but he did not look forward to going another round with them. Of all of their siblings, Ben only ever went easy on Klaus. 

"Two." Ben said, voice taking a darker tone. 

He paled, jumping out of his skin and letting the nurse go.- "Fuck you!"- he spat, teleporting out of there before his pride could take anymore blows. 

Ben only huffed and shook his head, retracting his tentacles and moving to check if the nurse was okay. The man looked rightfully freaked out, but was quick to shake out of it. "Is it just me, or are kids becoming worse twats than usual?" 

Ben rolled his eyes, not impressed by the guy one bit, though he seemed to be right up Klaus' ally telling by how that had sent them into an intense bout of laughter, Cassie laughing along too, probably just for the hell of it. 

"I'd say Five has been very much a twat his whole life." They chuckled, eyes glimmering with mirth and to Ben's increasing suspension, he could see an identical look in the nurses eyes. He had to do a double take, cause he could swear they were the same shade of green as Klaus' as well. Before he could really get a good study on the guy's face, he was turning away and talking to Klaus, the two of them falling into easy conversation. Ben attempted to interject and even ask how much longer Klaus was meant to be here before they could be discharged, but all he could get were quick glances from the two of them before they were glued back to each other in conversation. He pulled out his phone and took a look at the time, twenty minutes till one. Cassie usually had lunch by now and he doubted Five fed her. 

"Klaus, Cassie needs to eat, I'm taking her down to the cafeteria." 

Klaus perked up, looking down at Cassie then back up to Ben, their eyes wide. "Oh, no, mausezähnchen you need to eat don't you baby?"-they held her up for Ben to take, -"I don't want her eating any real dairy yet, see if they have bananas and applesauce, oh and bring me an applesauce back too." 

Ben nodded, grabbing Cassie and turning to walk out the door.- "I'll be back in an hour."-he said, smiling as Cassie waved goodbye to her moppy again. 

__________________________________

Dave sat at the table in tense silence, this wasn't good news and he could already foretell what kind of storm telling Klaus this would cause. He sighed, running a hand through his hair, then looking up at the prickling sensation of eyes on him. Sat at a table not three feet away from them, was a familiar face, partially hidden by the book she had held up in front of it. Their eyes locked and she raised an eyebrow up at him. He couldn't help the full body shudder as his blood instantly ran cold. He saw as her warm hazel eyes crinkled in the corners with the smile she no doubt had obscured behind that book in her hand. It was only a second that they had exchanged looks, but it felt like a million years as Dave tried his best to engrave every last freckle and strand of strawberry blonde hair into his memory. He was just about to get up and approach her, when a pair of snapping fingers in his face, broke him out of his spell. 

"Hay, you alright man? You look like you've just seen a ghost?" Diego chuckled, turning around to glance at the area he had been starting off at, but no sooner then she was there, she was gone. Dave blinked a couple times, his head swerving in all directions to try and locate where she could have gone, but she had vanished into thin air. He looked back to Diego, noting the growing level of concern written all over his face. 

"Y-yeah, something like that." He breathed out, rubbing at his eyes and trying to shake himself out of it. He was used to the nightmares, but this was different, this was reality. He didn't think it was a hallucination though. She seemed way too solid to be a figment of his mind. His eyebrows creased together, cause the only other explanations he could come up with, were the supernatural sort.

Diego still looked worried, reaching a comforting hand out towards him. 

"Dada!" 

They looked up, seeing Ben entering the cafeteria with Cassie on his hip, but then he stopped, eyes wide as he looked down at her in surprise. Both his and Diego's faces were not that far off either. 

"Did she just?" Diego started.

Dave could only silently nod back in reply, already slowly standing from his seat in preparation for a quick escape. 

Ben marched the rest of the way over to their table, holding Cassie out towards them and once again, she was shouting-"Dada!"- and reaching out for Dave to hold her. He accepted his fate and grabbed her out of Ben's hands, knowing he would never be able to say no to Cassie. 

Sitting back down, he was now at the table with not one brother, but two, the newest arrival currently radiating major killer vibes that had Dave wanting to cower away. 

"So, how did that happen?" Ben asked, his tone a tad too steely to be considered legitimately curious. 

Dave shrugged, "tried to teach her to say my name, I think she got confused, you know how babies are." 

Ben didn't look convinced, but nodded his head in silent agreement none the less. 

"How's Klaus?" Diego spoke up, thankfully changing the conversation. 

"Well, they were pissy about getting bitched at for being an irasponcable dumb ass, but they're doing a whole lot better now, getting chatty with their nurse, Five nearly took his head off before though, had to intervene before it got ugly." 

Diego chuckled and shook his head, showing just how common place something like that must be. "Old bastards getting oreny with his age."

Ben sighed and nodded in agreement, but his eyebrows were still creased in a mix of concern and confusion. "Yeah, didn't help that he was in a bad mood to begin with, but it wasn't completely out of the blue either." 

"What do you mean?" Dave asked, a sixth sense tingling in the back of his head, cause something did feel off and he wasn't the only one noticing it. 

"He was just….weird, dressed weird, acted weird." 

"Ben, we have met Klaus, no way anyone can be stranger than them." Diego piped up, humourous grin plastered on his face, he obviously wasn't catching on to the shift in atmosphere. 

Ben shook his head and waved him off. "No Diego, weirder than Klaus." 

Diego's grin fell, his eyebrows rising up to his hairline, cause those words had a weight to them. "Oh shit, should we go check on them?" 

Ben shrugged, "he didn't look dangerous. Suspect? Yes, but I don't think Klaus is in danger." 

Diego got up from the table,"Well now I'm curious, I'm gonna go peek in on them." 

"Wait, I'll come with you!" Dave called out, moving to stand as well, handing Cassie back to Ben.

"Stop." Two tentacles shot out from under Ben's shirt, wrapping around both of their ankles and holding them in place. "You can't both go, especially not after I just left, besides, if this guy is dangerous, I feel safer with Dave going." 

Diego rolled his eyes, "Ben, I'm a cop." 

"Yeah, and Dave can transform into a seven foot snarling beast, and besides, if he does die, it's no real loss to me." 

Dave wanted to argue with that, but coming from Ben, it was to be expected.-"he has a point."- he said to Diego instead. 

"Alright fine, but call me if you need back up." Diego relented, and with that, Ben let them go and Dave was making the trek back to Klaus' room. When he got into the hallway he could hear their boisterous conversation and laughter, creeping closer to the door, he popped his head in and could see Klaus and the nurse talking amiably about chocolate pudding and waxing or something, it was a strange conversation was all he could tell. Quietly he took a step in, hoping for a closer look at the so called weirder than Klaus nurse, but the moment he stepped in, the nurse whirled around as if on high alert. Dave froze in place in surprise, now face to face with the shaggy monstrosity sitting on the man's face. That couldn't be a real beard, could it? And what was with his scrubs, they didn't match or fit, that had to be a dress code violation for the hospital. 

"Another brother of yours." The nurse asked Klaus over his shoulder, his irish accent prevalent in his voice.

Klaus shook their head. "no, that's Dave, he's my uh... complicated is what we're calling it, be he's that." 

"Noted, fit bloke, I'd uncomplicate that if I swung that way." The nurse commented, nodding his head in approval.-"well, check up is over, doc says one more day, stay off the meth, eat your veggies, yada yada."-the nurse announced, gesturing his hands about as he stalked off towards the door, only stopping when he came to Dave, clapping him on the shoulder and leaning in to talk closer to his ear. -"hay handsome, you got any sisters?" 

Dave frowned and shook his hand off, -"I don't think you're they're type."-he grunted. 

The nurse scoffed and shook his head.-"I'm everyone's type."

Dave just stood there in dumbfounded silence as he watched the man chuckle to himself and leave the room, then he turned a questioning look to Klaus, asking if they understood what the hell had just happened, but Klaus only smiled brightly in amusement. 

"Of all the times I've been to the hospital, I've never enjoyed a nurse as much as I do him." They said wistfully, looking longingly out the door as if the nurse would magically come back to entertain them again. Dave really hoped he didn't. 

"Did you come to deliver my apple sauce?" Klaus asked next, breaking Dave out of his ruminating. 

"Huh?" 

Klaus huffed an exacerbated breath, "I asked Ben to bring me back an apple sauce from the cafeteria, I thought maybe he sent you here to deliver it." 

"Oh, uh, no, no apple sauce, sorry." He uttered awkwardly, looking down sadly at his empty hands. Ben didn't say that, Dave definitely would have brought Klaus an apple sauce if he had. 

"Did you just miss me then?" Klaus waggled their eyebrows, scooting over to the farthest side of the hospital bed for Dave. 

Dave could hardly contain the way his heart swelled at the gesture.-"Always."- he breathed out, sitting down next to Klaus on the bed. It was a tight fit, the both of them being six foot and six foot one respectively, but it wasn't so bad when Klaus laid their head on his chest and curled up into his side. He wrapped his arms around Klaus, his hand coming up to rub over their shoulder. It was nice, he could almost cry with how nice it really felt. He hadn't held another person like this since-

"Klaus, I also, kind of had something I wanted to talk to you about." He spoke up, effectively breaking the quiet moment between them. Klaus peeked up at him through their eyes lashes, nodding their head for Dave to continue. 

"You know when I told you about my...wife and child?" 

Klaus nodded, their muscles tensing up, cause this was turning out to be a serious conversation. 

Dave sighed, chewing on his lip in thought as his mind went back to not even an hour ago, the figure? Apparition? Whatever it was that he had seen in the cafeteria, he didn't know what to call it, or even how real it was, but he had to check all his avenues first. He just wasn't sure how to go about it though. "Did you...by any chance….try to conjure them today?" 

He felt Klaus tense even tighter underneath him, the necromancer quickly getting back to an upright position next to him. Dave immediately missed the cuddling, but he supposed that was on him for even bringing this up, or maybe it could have just been done a little more gently. 

"Dave, I would never overstep and do something like that, besides, it's not that easy for me to just bring a spirit about like that. I would need to know their name, have some form of momento of theirs, and a fucking summoning circle." 

Dave nodded, that made sense, he knew jack shit about necromancy and how it works, but that still left some holes in his understanding of Klaus' powers. "But, the spirit that brought us Cassie?" 

Klaus paused, their eyebrows scrunching in thought. "Okay, so it's not impossible to summon a spirit without all that, maybe a new spirit would need the extra steps, but I've practiced in that graveyard since I was twelve, summoning the spirits there is muscle memory for me by now, a simple incantation is all I would need to do it." 

Dave fell silent, his understanding of necromancy slowly expanding. It was fascinating and he wanted to ask Klaus more questions, but this wasn't a necromancy lesson. 

"I promise you Dave, I didn't summon anyone today, but you're obviously asking about it for a reason." 

He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. His mind flashing with images of his wife. Her eyes, the way she looked so solid sat at that table, that he could just reach out and comb his fingers through her hair. "Earlier, in the cafeteria, I saw…..I saw my wife. She looked real. Not like a ghost, but alive." 

Kluas immediately looked stricken, their mind no doubt going down a number of thought paths as they took that information in. "Alright, I'm hoping we can rule out drugs." 

"No drugs." Dave confirmed. 

"You don't have a history of hallucinating, right?" They asked next. 

Dave shook his head. "Nope, regular brain activity all my life."

"Okay, so that leaves things to fall into my ball park of expertise. She was like, solid, like human solid?" Klaus double checked, that same pinched look on their face. 

Dave nodded.-"she looked exactly as she did when she was alive, not a dent or scratch on her."- which was possibly the oddest part, cause her death wasn't a pretty one. It was horrific to say the absolute least. 

Klaus sighed and shook their head,"It can't be supernatural then." 

Dave jolted, stomach squirming uncomfortably. "What do you mean, why not?" 

"I...Dave, to bring a spirit back that looked as alive as you're saying she did, that would be a level three reanimation and no modern necromancer has been able to do it." Klaus reiterated, looking almost frustrated and Dave, he just wasn't following at all.

It must have shown on his face too, cause Klaus huffed, taking a deep breath before continuing on a little calmer this time. "In necromancy, above basic mediumship and spirit conjuring, there's reanimation. It's more advanced stuff, but necromancer's can do it. Level one is easy stuff like small animals, fish, rats, cats, dogs, ect, ect. Level two is a little harder, actual humans, bigger brains, bigger bodies, so it's impressive if you can do it, even if the corpse is a stupid, disfigured, rotting mess. Now what you're talking about here, Dave, is a level three reanimation, she looked alive, intelligent even. You'd have to be a very powerful necromancer to achieve that, and last I heard, the last guy able to do that, died over a hundred years ago." 

Dave swallowed around the lump in his throat, cause he believed Klaus, but now he was confused. He knows what he saw, she was there, she looked exactly as she used to. She was there, she was real. He didn't realize it until Klaus' hands were gently cupping the sides of his face, but he was crying.

"Dave, I'm not saying what you saw wasn't real, I'm just giving you the facts, and you know what, I could still be wrong, who knows, maybe there is someone in our backyard that can do that, but it wasn't me, I can hardly make a stupid, rotting zombie myself." Kluas chuckled, eliciting a small smile from Dave. As shit as he felt right now, confused and grieving the wife and child he'd never stop missing, Klaus did make him feel a tiny bit better. Just a tiny bit less lonely, even hopeful that he was somehow getting his second chance at love and family and if he closed his eyes and let himself forget every other detail of the events that brought them together, he just might be able to believe it. 

"Ah shit! Heeeeeelp!" -Dave and Klaus jumped, their heads swinging to see the nurse from before running through the hall with Five on his shoulders, holding him in a choke hold. -"Somebody please collect your feral child!" 

"Should we intervene?" Dave asked Klaus wide eyed. 

Klaus narrowed their eyes, but shook their head no."nah, I wanna see who wins."   
__________________________________

The sky was getting dark and visiting hours were officially over, everyone came and said their goodbyes to Klaus, promising to be there when they got discharged first thing in the morning. After that, was an awkward walk back to Ben's car. They drove to the hospital together, but Dave was hesitant to get back into the car with him. 

"Cassie's going to need some help getting settled in my room till she can go back to sleeping with Klaus." Ben commented, unlocking the car and pulling the back door open, buckling a sleeping Cassie up in her car seat. Dave took a deep breath and opened up his door, slipping into the passenger side as Ben closed Cassie's door and came around the front. 

"Yeah, I can help." He said, as soon as Ben was seated. 

Ben nodded and started up the car, pulling out of the hospital parking lot and making the drive back to the shop. Not even five minutes on the road when they came to a red light, Ben shooting him a quick glance. "So, what kind of freak accident killed your family?" 

Dave jolted, not sure if his blood was running cold, or just so hot in pure rage that it felt cold. He couldn't tell, and nothing could have stopped the venom in his voice when he bit out. -"An ugly one, Why are you an orphan?" 

"Touché" he ground out, the silence quickly returning and nothing else was said the whole ride back.   
__________________________________

He had just gotten done feeding Cassie and tucking her in for the night, he was more than ready to get home after the emotional day he had at the hospital. 

"Dave, can you come into the kitchen for a moment?" 

Goosebumps littered his skin at the sound of Ben's voice, a niggling in the back of his mind telling him he probably shouldn't go, but he didn't really have a choice did he? This was Ben's home, not his and even if he didn't comply, the man could very well just walk into the room and confront him here. Then again, he supposed if he did that, he could buy some time with Cassie being asleep in her crib right next to him, even Ben would be hesitant to try anything with her in the room, but that was his safest bet and it would mean using Cassie like a human shield. He couldn't do that, he wasn't that big of a pussy to leverage a baby. 

With a sigh, he took one last look at Cassie, carving her features into his mind just in case Ben had actually decided to kill him finally, then he turned around and walked to the kitchen. Ben was sitting at the table, his hands casually rolling around a large lump of tan clay. His stomach instantly sank upon sight of it, heart jackhammering in his chest and only getting worse as Ben looked up at him with a knowing smirk. 

"I'm guessing you know what this is?" He asked, picking it up and tossing it in his direction. 

Dave just barely caught it, his hands growing numb with anxiety, while a constant litany of 'oh fuck, oh fuck' played out in his head. With Klaus in the hospital and the prior events that had led up to it, he'd completely forgotten about returning the grimoire in time. 

"Uh, a hunk of clay is what it looks like." He responded easily. His gut churning anxiously, even though his voice was filled with all the confidence of a man, who had no idea what significance the item in hand held. 

Turned out, that was exactly what Ben was waiting to hear, his eyes going big as a smile spread across his face. Dave never felt so fucked in his life. 

"Sure is, a big ball of clay I found in Klaus' room earlier today, when I was grabbing Cassie's crib. You have any idea where exactly in Klaus' room I found it?" 

Dave shook his head no, feeling his feet sink deeper and deeper into the ground as he basically dug his metaphorical grave. 

"I found it on Klaus' dresser, beside the incense where their grimoire usually is." Ben continued, face back to a blank uninterested mask. 

He raised his eyebrows, face in a perfect example of shock.-"Klaus has a grimoire?"- he asked, making a show of tossing the clay from hand to hand, displaying his casualty and ease he felt in this conversation, even though he had every reason to be on the defense and making an escape plan. 

"Of course Klaus has a grimoire, why wouldn't they? But you knew that already Dave, didn't you." Ben said, chin resting delicately in the palm of his hand. 

Dave's teeth ground, muscles twitching with the urge to shift and lash out. He was fast enough, he knew he was, even for Ben, if he did it now he could just pop his head off with his teeth.

"You look like you want to kill me." Ben mused, shit eating grin in place as he stared him down, much like a cat playing with it's food before it inevitably devoured it. That only served to piss Dave off more, cause he was the predator here, not this skinny little man almost half his size. 

"Yeah, but not for the reasons you're thinking." He ground out, fists clenched tight at his sides. 

"Enlighten me, cause I think you're furious that after all these weeks of you sneaking around I finally caught you out Katz, caught you red fucking handed in my own home!" Ben boomed, his hands coming down hard on the table top as he stood, knocking his chair to the floor with a clang. 

Dave stumbled back a step, his head swiveling to the side to check if the noise had woken Cassie. It hadn't, surprisingly enough, he could still hear her steady breathing, snoozing away in her crib. "Good lucifer, what do you want from me Ben? I'm telling you I know nothing about this clay or Klaus' grimoire and you can't even take my word for it? I've done nothing but be a good employee, doing more then what I'm actually getting paid to do, I might add, but I honestly don't care, cause above that, I want to be a good friend to you guys, but you're so fucking sceptical of me. I don't know what to tell you anymore, what I could possibly even say to convince you that I don't have bad intentions here!" 

"Oh no, no, no, don't do that, don't fucking gaslight me Dave. It was a valiant effort, I'll give you that, gold star for trying, but when I say I cought you red handed, it means I fucking caught you fucker." Ben reached down beside him, pulling up his backpack. 

Cold dread pooled in his stomach, overflowing into every inch of his being. He hadn't known his bag was missing. Where the fuck did he leave it that was so easy for Ben to take without his notice? 

He watched as Ben unzipped it and reached in, pulling out Klaus' grimoire."funny little factoid, this is actually a hand me down, it was my grimoire first before I gave it to Klaus as a gift on their one year of sobriety." 

Dave could feel his would blinking more and more out of focus, his vision narrowing around the edges and his extremities going numb, cause this was a first. Never had he been exposed so easily and for such a careless mistake on his part? It was humiliating, bad enough for him to even lose his actual job. 

Ben smirked, exuding all the smugness of a man who had played his last card and won the whole game. He wanted to be angry, but now, he was just scared. "Why don't you take a seat Dave, I think it's time we start telling the truth now." 

Dave breathed in a shuddering breath, he had half a mind to turn tail and book it the fuck out of there while he still could, but then he'd be abandoning Cassie and not that he believed Ben capable of hurting her, he just didn't have it in himself to run away like that. 

"Don't even think about running, I'd catch before you even make it to the hallway." Ben sighed out, picking his chair up and taking a seat, then pointing to the one across from him in invitation for Dave to do the same. 

Dave took a glance at the seat, then he looked to Ben, his false pleasant smile sending shivers down his spine. The smile quickly dropped though, the longer he just stood there, debating on what he should do. 

"Sit down Dave, or I'm going to have to make you sit!" Ben banged his hand on the table again, a tentacle slithering out from under his shirt. Dave swallowed and nodded, striding to the aforementioned seat and sitting down, his hands fisted in tight balls over the table. 

"Thank you." Ben grinned, the tentacle not receding back into him, but staying hovered in the air, looking ready to strike at any moment. 

He grit his teeth, glaring up at it,-"Put that thing away."-he ground out, trying and failing to reign in his anger, knowing sitting down had just made his position even worse. He didn't like this, he didn't like feeling scared and pinned down like he was. 

Ben hummed a moment as if in thought, before shaking his head,"I don't think I will, now tell me who the fuck are you?" 

"David katz, who the fuck are you?!" He shot right back, in a response reminiscent of their car ride here, deciding he wasn't going to play nice if this was how it was going to be. He was certain Ben wasn't going to just go ahead and kill him if he truly wanted answers, but then again...the guy did seem volatile. He was playing with fire right now, but he was also quickly remembering that he wasn't without safety measures, he just had to have faith that those safety measures were currently active. 

"Benjamin Hargreaves is my American name, but the name on my birth certificate is Byeong-su Bai, I was born in Seoul South Korea where my grandmother raised me for the first four years of my life, then I was quickly adopted by a lovely american women who sadly couldn't pronounce my actual name and the rest is history. Now let's try this again, Who. Are. You." Ben leaned in, eyes hard as the tentacle flicked like a whip in the air above him. 

He wet his lips and nodded, obviously his choices were compliance or death, "My name's still David Henry katz, I was born in a small village just north of wales england, my family moved to Texas in the late eighties when I was about two years old, rest is history." He answered dryly, hoping that was enough info to satiate Ben, though he didn't doubt he had more to ask. 

The man shrugged, tipping his head in answer. "How about this one, what were you looking for in Klaus' grimoire?" 

Dave froze, hands instantly going clammy with nerves. -"Evidence."-was all he could bite out.

Ben's eyebrows shot up to his hairline, intrigue written all over his face. "Evidence for what?" 

"A crime, now I want to ask you a question." Dave was quick to deflect and redirect, he wasn't ready to just go spilling out every last detail of his mission here. 

"Fine, go ahead." Ben rolled his eyes, but leaned back in his chair and gestured for Dave to speak. 

He had expected at least a little bit of push back from him, had a whole counter argument ready to go, but now that he was given the chance, he found that he didn't really have a good question to ask. He shifted nervously in his chair, a hand coming up to scrub at his chin. "Okay, um, I..are...are you going to kill me?" 

Ben was back to looking surprised, his features settling back down a moment later as he tipped his head in thought. "I dunno Dave, depends on what I find out about you, what you know, how much you know, why you're able to get through the barrier when you're clearly a fucking thief." 

Dave nodded, a stone settling in his gut as he took that all in. It made sense, definitely left his fate leaning closer to death than he would like, cause he knew quite a bit, definitely not everything and that was exactly why he was here. "If I told you I knew nothing, would you let me go?" 

Ben chuckled, but shook his head, "no, cause I know you'd be lying. But you should be grateful, I'm definitely giving you a hell of a lot more time to explain then the last guy." 

Dave perked up at that, he hadn't even been trying to, but he was definitely getting somewhere here. "Yeah, and who's the last guy?" 

"No one important and that's all you need to know." Ben snapped, not falling for the bait just yet, but Dave wasn't giving up. 

"Ben, let's face it, I'm already a dead man sitting here right now, what have you got to lose telling me about this supposed last guy. For all I know, you could be lying and the guy is actually alive or something." 

Ben jolted at that, a nerve had definitely been hit and Dave was determined to do it again.

"He's not, he's dead and you will be too once I get done telling you this." 

Dave smiled, now that was what he was wanting to hear,"I can live with that."

__________________________________

May 3rd 2017.

Ben had gotten out of his car, neck craned at an angle as he looked up at Klaus' window. He could see the curtains were closed, but the lights were on if the yellow glow illuminating from the break in the curtains was anything to tell by. It wasn't the strangest thing, just meant Klaus had skipped out on their support group session, which wasn't new, maybe a little disappointing, but he'd definitely be talking to Klaus about it later. He took one last glance at their window, stomach squirming uncomfortably, he couldn't tell if it was an anxious squirming or an irritable one. He wasn't happy Klaus had played hooky from their responsibilities again, but he wasn't mad enough for his tentacles to react. He didn't know, something just felt off. 

Walking up the stairs, he could hear thumps and thuds coming from down the hall, quickening his steps, he stopped to listen in on what was going on behind Klaus' door. 

"Klaus."he called out, giving their door a tentative knock. The thumping and rustling stopped, a whisper of shit, being hissed out between someone's teeth followed by footsteps and then the door was opening, revealing the handsome face of their delivery boy. 

He grinned and nodded in greeting to him. "Hay Ben, what can I do for you?" 

Ben's eyes narrowed, his neck stretching in an attempt to see behind the door, but Harvey's broad frame made it nearly impossible."You can tell me if Klaus is here and let me speak to them." 

Harvey tensed, but it was minute and Ben easily brushed it off, he had no reason to not trust Harvey. He had been his good friend for years and working for them for a couple of months so far. Klaus was practically obsessed with the guy, always flirting and trying to get him to stay over for dinner. Ben honestly hoped they got together soon, they would make a really cute couple and besides, who didn't want their best friend to be a part of the family. 

"Well, he's not, Klaus went out to his rehab club thing, but he asked me to come over and wait in his room for him, cause he had something important to tell me or whatever." Harvey chuckled, his cheeks tenting pink at that. Ben couldn't help the smile that grew on his face. It was about time, Klaus had been talking about how things with Harvey were starting to feel more serious for them. 

Ben nodded, sharing a knowing look with him as he took a step out from the doorway. "Alright, well, if I know Klaus, I should give you guys some space, cause they should be coming home pretty soon now, oh and before I forget, it's they, remember? Klaus goes by they now, don't fuck this up man, I don't want to have to fire you." 

Harvey gasped, hand flying up to his mouth. "Oh, right, sorry, don't let them know, I'm trying, I really am." 

"Don't worry, secrets safe with me." Ben laughed, clapped Harvey on the shoulder before finally turning and leaving, grabbing his keys from his pocket and thinking of places he could crash at for the night. Coming to the front door, he noticed Klaus' coat on the rack. The squirming was back at full force and if he strained his ears, he could swear it sounded like the banging around from before had resumed. Maybe he should have asked about that? It might have been dark in the hallway, but Harvey had looked normal, he didn't sound particularly out of sorts, maybe he was being his usuals sweet self and cleaning up after the tornado that blew through Klaus' room on a regular basis. 

"Klaus forgot their fucking coat again, I know it's spring, but it still gets cold at night." He griped, rolling his eyes and finally walking out the door and closing up for the night. He'd be back in the morning and have Klaus tell him all about their new relationship over coffee.   
____________

Dave could see Ben's eyes were red rimmed, his teeth grinding back and forth as he leaned back in his chair, chest heaving as he struggled to quell what he could only describe as unfathomable rage. 

"Klaus was there the whole time." Dave said, stating the obvious, his stomach already queasy with nausea, cause he knew where this story was going. 

Ben let out a soft hysterical chuckle, "Everything, all the fucking signs were right in front of my face, but I still didn't do a damn thing when I should have stayed and stepped in, but instead I left that night and came back to a fucking nightmare." 

__________________________________

He returned early in the morning, the sun not quite up yet and all his alarm bells going off, cause Klaus' light was still on. Did it ever go off? Did Klaus even come back last night? Walking in, he noticed Harvey sat at their kitchen table, his phone in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. He looked up and smiled when noticing Ben's presence, then held up his mug and raised his eyebrows in question. Still feeling uneasy, Ben hesitated briefly before nodding and moving to pour himself a cup. 

"You took a shower?" Ben commented, noting Harvey's wet hair and change of clothes. He must have come with them last night, cause it wasn't what he was wearing the last time he saw him. 

"Yup, always good to wash up after a fun night." He grinned, shooting Ben a wink. 

Ben on his part felt almost slimy with the gesture, cause this wasn't normal Harvey behavior. That smile on his face, it wasn't a happy smile, it was self satisfied and down right creepy. Definitely something Klaus would never be into, which made the hairs on the back of his neck stand even more on end. 

"So, I'm guessing things with Klaus went well?" He asked, trying to keep his voice casual, but with the way his tentacles were threatening to bust out of him, no matter how hard he forced them back, he was coming to the conclusion that he should have listened to his gut a little more last night. 

Harvey whistled low in response, that skeevy grin back on his face. "Oh, things were spectacular, let me tell you, Klaus is one of the best lays I've had in a long time and I've fucked a siren." 

Ben jolted, his stomach sinking, cause this definitely wasn't the Harvey he knew. The Harvey he knew was polite and kind, not some frat bro dickhead, he'd never be friends with a guy like that. He shot out of his chair, face dusting red in anger,"Don't talk about my sibling like that, they're not just a lay!" 

Harvey only chuckled and shook his head at Ben's outburst. "Man, chill, we're just having some guy talk, and Klaus knows he was just a lay to me, we worked it all out for a very long time last night." 

Ben paused, mind whirling as he took that in."Klaus had told him they were going to ask Harvey on a real date, that they were romantically interested in him, not some friends with benefits type deal." 

He shook his head, "that's not what Klaus told me, and it's they! Klaus goes by they!" 

Like a switch, Harvey's posture instantly hardened, his face crumpling into a scowl."well it doesn't matter what Klaus said to you, it's what he said to me, but you wouldn't know that cause you weren't fucking there, were you Ben?!" 

Ben could feel the muscles twitching in his face, his tentacles just on the verge of exploding out and tearing Harvey into pieces. "Their pronouns are-"

"I don't give a shit about stupid fucking pornouns." Harvey boomed back, picking his coffee mug up and flinging it into the wall across from him, the mug shattering and coffee spilling onto the tiled floors of their kitchen. 

Ben was frozen in shock, looking from the mess on the ground to Harvey, never having seen someone with such a drastic personality change. He stood like that for a long moment, the air stiff with tension, then Harvey burst into tears. His eyes wide and his head shaking back and forth. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I need to go, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." And he quickly rushed down the stairs and out the door. Ben didn't wait a moment longer before he bolted to Klaus' room and flung the door open,"oh lucifer!"- he gasped, not at all prepared for what was hidden behind it.

Klaus laid at the foot of their bed, strewn across the floor at an awkward angle, a puddle of blood and-  
________________

"Stop! stop! stop! I don't wanna hear the details!" Dave chanted, hands flying up to cover his ears, barely holding in the gag that bubbled up out of his throat as his mind painted horrific mental images against his will. 

"Oh, you're going to be sick, who do you think had to mop that mess up!?" Ben growled, face screwed up in anger, but his eyes looked no less haunted then they must have been when he had first found Klaus. "You asked me to tell you, now shut up cause you're listening till the end." 

_________________

His heart rabbitted out of his chest, he didn't care as his knees sunk down into the gore spilling out beneath their sibling. He was frenzied as he tore the layers of saran wrap from Klaus' face, immediately hovering a hand over their nose and mouth for any sign of breath. He slumped in relief, it was faint but it was there. He moved on to the zip ties on their wrists and ankles, slicing through it with a spare pocket knife and throwing the pieces of plastic far away from them. He looked back at Klaus, nose stinging with the smell of blood and other things, but he stayed put, just sitting there taking in Klaus' naked form, all of their injuries, from their split lip and swollen eye, to the finger shaped bruises ringing their neck and he was certain if he took Klaus to the hospital, that they'd discover a lot more going on internally. 

A wet sob broke out of him as it finally sunk in what had happened. Klaus...Klaus had been raped, violently so and it was premeditated if the bindings were anything to go by. It would have been a murder too if Ben hadn't gotten to them when he did. He just couldn't believe that this happened, that it happened under his watch and he could have lost Klaus today. He would have lost his sibling, his real best friend. It tore him up inside, absolutely destroyed him and any semblance of who he once was before this morning. Taking care of Klaus was his priority right now, but after that, nothing would sate his hunger for revenge. 

_____________________

Ben chuckled and rolled his neck, the crack and pop of cartilage echoing into the stilted silence their conversation had taken. Dave didn't need to ask to know what most likely happened next, but Ben was going to entertain him anyway, a slow, syrupy smile splitting across his face. He looked gleeful at whatever memory he was reliving in that moment. A shiver ran down his back, his hackles rising at the sense of a predator in his in his midst, which was terrifying, cause Dave was an apex fucking predator himself. 

"Of course, my first priority was klaus. I cleaned them and patched them up best I could, helped them back to bed and tucked them in, then I called in a favor from a friend to watch over them while I went out." 

"To find the delivery boy." He added, back to stating the obvious. 

"To find the delivery boy."- Ben confirmed, nodding his head, -"I beat him into an inch of his life, dragged his sorry ass into our basement, chained him to the radiator and let him suffer for six months, cause that's how long it took for Klaus to finally be even a fraction back to themself again." 

The air left his lungs, fingers prickling with claws that he had to force back,"You killed him? Does...does Klaus know?" 

"Klaus thinks he skipped town after what he did, obviously you wouldn't return to the person you brutally raped!" Ben bit out, before quickly calming back down again,- "Klaus doesn't know and they never will." 

Dave flinched back at that, growing nauseous with Ben's bluntness. "I-i don't blame you, I would have killed him too, but wouldn't klaus have found out, his ghost must have at least tried to-"

"Not with my connections." He said more casually, if a little smug by the way his eyebrows raised. 

Dave's mouth went dry, his eyes widening at his implications.- "You...you sold his soul on the black market?"-he supposed he shouldn't have been nearly as surprised as he was, this was the main reason why he was here. He just wasn't so ready to have it confirmed to his face from the man himself. 

Ben only smiled in response, he felt no remorse, that much he could tell."Bought my car, all of the furniture in the house and the rest is in a saving's account Klaus thinks is all from sales made at the shop." 

Dave felt the color drain from his face, in the beginning he had thought it was Klaus, but upon meeting them, he just couldn't really believe it. Klaus was such a sweet person with nothing but good intentions for everyone around them. He could honestly say he was relieved to know for a fact that it really wasn't them, but that didn't change things too much though. He still had a job to do and finishing it required him to get out of here alive, now knowing what Ben was capable of.- "And you're not scared of any repercussions?" -he asked slowly, hoping to Lucifer that Ben hadn't already figured him out completely.

"Like the feds?" Ben snorted, like that was the least of his worries. It only served to put Dave even more on edge, whoever he was messing with right now, was on a whole other level than what his original assignment alluded to. For the briefest moment, he had the fleeting thought that maybe the best thing he could do right now, was take klaus and Cassie and put them into witness protection, keeping them as far fucking away from the crimanl phycopath they were living with. 

"I'm guessing you're not with the feds, cause than you'd know just how much fucking money from the black market gets funnled up into those greedy bastards pockets and vise versa" Ben supplied cooly, shit eating grin prominent on his face.

Dave went stock still, his eyes flashing against his will. Yeah, consider his cover, fully fucking blown. 

"Guess you were right Dave, you definitely are a dead man sitting at this table right now, but don't worry, I'll be sure to let Klaus and Cassie know it was your choice to leave after all." Ben sighed in mock disappointment, the tentacle hovering over them shooting down and wrapping around Dave's neck. He was lifted off his chair, feet kicking for purchase as he grappled with the alien arm trying to squeeze the literal life out of him. 

"You don't even have to tell me who you're working for-" Ben laughed, sparks of insanity twinkling in his eyes. Dave had dealt with crazy, he'd dealt with certified sociopaths, but this...this was scary. 

"The Commission.", He wheezed out, not even sure why he was saying it, but telling by the way Ben paused, his smile quickly falling from his face, he supposed it might have been the right move. 

His jaw ticked, the muscles in his neck tightening, while the tentacle loosened its hold on him.- "How'd we get on their radar?" -he asked lowely, looking legitimately worried. 

Dave sucked in a quick gasp of air, a victorious smirk twitching on his lips at the same time. "Three years ago, an old building collapsed, crushing and killing sixty two people, there was only one survivor." 

Ben's posture instantly went rigid, his fists clenched tight at his sides, but he didn't say a word.

It was all the more reason for Dave to continue, "Klaus was that survivor, but reports from witnesses on that day could have sworn they saw a man with Klaus entering the building and footage from nearby CC TV cameras show that you were with them the entire day." 

"I wasn't!" Was all Ben could grit out, but Dave wasn't convinced. 

"There's speculation that instead of sixty three people in that building, there had actually been sixty four." 

"Speculation isn't proof." He shot back.

Dave shook his head in agreement."No, but you are." 

Ben scoffed, his eyes rolling as the tentacle on his throat slowly began to tighten again."well you're a dumbass, cause I clearly would be dead if I had been in a freak disaster like that." 

"Dead, undead, all the same." He grunted, back to grappling for purchase as his airways constricted.

His eyes narrowed,"Are you seriously calling me a ghost." 

Dave chuckled, as painful as it was to do so around his constraint,"No, you're not a ghost Ben, but I can sense death and you've died, it doesn't matter how long it's been, It always lingers." 

Before Ben had a chance to even respond, the front door was broken down and a dozen armed commission agents filed into the shop, rushing up the stairs and training their weapons on him. Just like that, he was released and Ben was backing away with his hands raised at his sides. 

"I didn't even notice the wire?" He said, sounding legitimately impressed. 

Dave nodded, "that's because I'm not wearing a wire." 

It took a moment, but Dave saw as the realization struck. "the security system, you helped Klaus install it!" 

As bad as he felt tapping Klaus' security system, it had been necessary, definitely paid off too, seeing as it saved his life. 

He walked over to Patch, who handed him his badge and a pair of handcuffs."You don't have to tell me what really happened that day just yet, believe it or not, that's not the main reason I'm here for, but you can tell me who you sold Harvey Green's soul to." 

"If I tell you, does that mean I'm under arrest?" Ben asked, eyeing the cuffs in his hand.

He nodded,"I'd have to detain you for questioning, yes." 

A smirk spread across his lips,"You do know what that would do to Klaus?" 

"I'm aware-" he tried to say, but Ben was quick to cut him off.

"It would destroy them, not only losing me, but knowing you were lying-" he bemoaned, exaggerating his words almost mockingly.

"Ben-" Dave warned, not wanting everyone here to hear this. 

"Dave?" Patch tried to interject, taking a step closer, but he waved her off. He had this under control.

Ben only smiled bigger, having found Dave's buttons and taking great pleasure in obliterating them,"This whole time, you didn't care about them or Cassie." 

"That's not true." He growled, eyes flashing and hands threatening to claw up.

Ben scoffed, his eyes rolling skyward,"You came here on false pretenses, took their grimoire, violated their trust and privacy, Klaus would hate you!" 

Dave felt his stomach drop. He shook his head, cause that wasn't true, Kluas would understand,"No, It was part of my job-"

"You're making excuses cause you know it's true, Klaus would never let you back, never let you see Cassie. You came here to investigate them like a criminal suspect but instead got wrapped up in playing happy family. Klaus trusted you and this is how you betray them, just. Like. The. Last. Guy." 

"I'm not like him!" He boomed, everyone in the room jumping, Patch made another move to try and intervene, but Dave was already half shifted and very steadily losing his temper, making him and Ben the two most dangerous people in the room. She didn't need to think long before taking a couple steps back, if worse came to worse, they both got tranquilized. 

"He betrayed Kluas' trust, just like you are now!" 

Dave froze, eyes flashing bright for a moment, before he closed them and took a steading breath, his shift quickly receding and the whole room took a simultaneous breath of relief.

"Shut up and turn around Ben, you're under arrest for the murder of Harvey Green and the illegal trafficking of his soul, anything you say and do, can and will be held against you in the court of law." He recited tonelessly, snapping Ben's wrists into the cuffs.

Ben sighed, realizing in the end, he'd lost this game and all his anger and boister quickly drained out of him, his voice barely above a whisper as he spoke just for Dave's ears to hear. "You're not even an officer Dave, you're just a pawn in their little game. The commission doesn't even care about laws and legality, they care about who gets to be ringmaster of the underworld. They only put a target on me cause I'm connected to someone who got the upper hand on them. They're only taking me out, cause I'm in the way of who they really want." 

"You're right." Dave was quick to answer, more than done with Ben's bullshit.

He quirked an eyebrow, looking at Dave over his shoulder.

"I'm not an officer, I'm an agent, now let's go." He grunted, shoving him towards the stairs and marching him out of the shop to the waiting commission cruisers. He put him in the back seat, making a move to enter the passenger side next to Patch, but then he paused, remembering one small, delicate detail laid up in her crib. 

"What are you doing? Aren't you getting in?" Patch asked. 

"No, Patch, Cassie, the baby, someone has to stay with her." 

"Yeah, you fucking dumbass, maybe unarrest me and I can watch my godneice!" Came Ben's muffled voice through the car door. 

Dave rubbed his eyes, he certainly felt like a dumbass right now. Since he was the one to cuff him and read him his rights, he couldn't not be the one to take him in, but Cassie couldn't be alone, he'd be committing literal child neglect if he left her. 

"Ignore him Dave, we can call CPS and they'll take her." Patch said, to which Ben was quick to start banging his head against the window in protest. 

"No, no, she has another guardian, they just don't get discharged from the hospital till tomorrow morning!" He yelled, still banging his head.

Patch groaned, watching as some of the cars and vans drove away. -"Stop that or I'm tranquilizing you!"-she smacked her hand against Ben's window, the man stopping if only to glare menacingly up at her.

"I..I can't leave her, at least not till Klaus is out of the hospital." Dave said, knowing he was going to get a lot of shit for not being the one to book Ben in, but he had no choice, Cassie came first. 

Patch gripped his arm before he had a chance to turn around, her eyes hard as she forced her gaze into his."Dave, listen to me. That kid is not your problem, she is not your child, and Klaus is not your wife, you owe these people nothing. If anything, they owe you fucking answers for what happened to your real family." 

Dave shook his head, he knew this, he knew they weren't his actual family, but-"Patch, she's just a baby, she has nothing to do with Ben's crimes, she doesn't deserve to be abandoned like that." 

Patch nodded, "exactly, which is why I'll call CPS and they will take her to a safer place to be looked after." 

The banging resumed at full force, Ben smacking his head hard enough to rattle the door and he was scared he might start bleeding soon."don't, Dave, I'll give you Diego's number, call him, call him and he'll watch her, she has other guardians!" 

Dave perked up, looking at Patch with a hopeful smile. 

She rolled her eyes and gestured for them to go ahead, "fine, let's just get out of here already." 

Thirty minutes later, Diego rolled up in his car, stomping out and slamming his door closed. "What the fuck is going and why does Ben look like he's just been arrested?" 

"Cause he has, and now since you're here, go upstairs and watch that baby, so we can finish our job." Patch responded dryly, slowly reaching her limit in patience. 

Diego smirked, scoffing as he stayed put with his arms crossed over his chest. "Uh huh, nope, I'm a fucking police officer sweety, I arrest people, you, I have no fucking clue who you are, as a matter of fact, I could arrest you for impersonation." 

Patch grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him close and pressing her taser right into his groin, "Never said I was the police and never fucking call me sweety again, now I'm giving you to the count of three to get out of here so we can leave, or I'll fucking fry your huevos." 

Diego went wide eyed, nodding his head quickly before shrugging out of her hold and stalking off towards the front of the shop.- "I want answers after this Dave!"-he turned around and called out-"and hay, taser lady, if you're single, call me sometime?!"-he shot Patch a wink, before finally opening the door and going inside. 

Patch shook her head and sighed, "why do I always attract the freaks?" 

Dave shrugged, he had a feeling Diego rivaled klaus in the kink factor. 

"Alright, let's go." Patch opened the door and got in, Dave quickly following suit and getting into the passenger side. 

Ben in the back seat immediately leaned up over the center console to put his head right next to his."Even though you're a lying piece of shit, con artist that Klaus is never going to forgive, thank you for at least not letting Cassie get taken away from them." 

Dave nodded, swallowing around the lump in his throat. -"No problem."-he uttered out dryly, doing his best to not let Ben get to him. Klaus would understand, they'd forgive him. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whole lot of reveals I definitely could have drawn out for a couple more chapters, but I was getting impatient with myself. Kinda want to know people's thoughts on the flashback scene with Ben and Dave. Was it too detailed? Could I have gone lighter on the Klaus whump? I tried to not make it too in your face, but I really wanted to relay the kind of trauma Ben and Klaus had experienced. Any comments and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and constructive criticism are enthusiastically welcomed. I'm not always great at responding to them, but I'm honestly just that awkward, I don't always know what to say. :/


End file.
